Bad Touch
by RottenRogue7
Summary: Project HMONE7 is causing a little to much trouble for TND that truths are being unleashed and relationships tainted. On top of that sector V may be losing their supieriority to the the once bottomfeeding sector H. Something's going down...
1. That dream

**My first story... and it's explicate! OMG! It WILL get so much worse... just to warn the readers.**

_topdog... and yes, i am a girl!

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Wally forced her onto the door behind her, locking it so that no one could interrupt them while they had their fun, not Kuki and definitely not Hoagie. Abby was about to be his no matter how much she protested, no matter how wrong he knew he was being, she would be his.

_He forced his lips to hers, enjoying the way her hands slid around his chest and the way she moaned. He felt himself getting more aroused by the second. _

_Abby rubbed herself against him sensually, causing his arousal to become almost painful. She stared into his emerald green eyes and smiled, "Okay, you've waited this long, take me. Take me now Wally and don't stop until you're spent." She jumped up, lips touching his once more and wrapping her long tan legs around him._

"OHMYGOD!" Wally quickly sat up in his TND clubhouse bed, breathing heavily. "That dream again." He panted, noticing that his pants were tighter than when he fell asleep.

Forcing himself out of his bed he made his way to the bathroom. _Damn Wally, you're happy with Kuki! _He scorned himself as he ran the shower until it was the right temperature. He took off his Pajama pants and boxers, got in and allowed the water to just run over him. His erection worsened and he couldn't take it anymore. He stuck his head underneath the running water just to keep cool, used one hand to steady himself on a wall and then took to taking care of his member, stroking it fast and furiously.

He came within minutes, unfortunately to thoughts of Abigail. Damn, he thought again.

This had been going on fore many nights now. He would have a dream of her, each time they would go further and further, things would get kinkier and kinkier and his erections seemed to be getting bigger and bigger… he didn't mind that one as much as the first two. His main worry was his girlfriend since thirteen, Kuki. For four years they had been together and he loved her, he really did but there was always Abigail.

Back in his prepubescent days they had kissed, thanks to a game of spin the bottle, but he'd never forget the way her lips felt on his. And now, since she had… grown he dreaded the summers that they all spent up at Abby's parent's lake house, just seeing her half naked sent him nearly into a coma every year. But he was with Kuki nevertheless, his child hood sweetheart… but Abby brought the animal in him out… he liked his darker side.

After drying off and putting on a new pair of boxers he went back to bed and looked at the clock, "4:30am… great." He sighed and drifted back to sleep, praying that Abby didn't return in his dreams.

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OoooOOOOooooOO

If the pairing weren't clear in that first paragraph:

_KukixWally_

_HoagiexAbby_

_NigelxLizzie _

_Read and Review please. No flaming!_


	2. Lip Gloss

_I would like to take the time and THANK the people who reviews my first chapter!!!_

_Nutso-bonzo7- though i wish she would write more mature things. Lord knows she's good at it!_

_Evilevergreen- I was so touched when you reviewed my story! _

_GreenSapphire- SQUEE! I love how you sympathize for the poor adolescence of the story._

_xXHersheyKissesXx- i love your pen name! Who doesn't love hershey kisses!_

_Numbeh 013- Thanks for the review and for noticing the abnormality of it all!_

_SilverSal- it is indeed a great travesty that there are not more Wally/Abby fics! ((check out Evilevergreen's stuff if you want more hehe))((ADVERTISEMENT))_

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"ALL AGENTS TO THE BRIEFING ROOM!" The cool computer voice said, red lights flashing into every part of the clubhouse.

Number one was the first out of his room. Since his childhood he was taller, muscular and balder than ever before. He struggled to put on his red t-shirt as he got into the elevator almost running into Numbuh two in the process.

Hoagie to was way thinner and toned. About the time he started to date Abigail, he thought it was time for a change and he began eating right and exercising.

Once they were all in the briefing room, couples pairing up and exchanging kisses along the way, Numbuh one cleared his throat and addressed the person on the computer screen. "Yes, numbuh 362?"

Rachel, aka numbuh 362, brushed back her long blond hair and smiled joyfully at numbuh one before getting to business. "Every agent is to report to the Hawaii base for a celebration." She said, obviously speaking directly to Numbuh one.

After blushing a bit Nigel cleared his throat, "May I ask the occasion?"

"On sector H's last mission the managed to wipe out an entire robot army created by The Toy Man. Later that day they not only brought him in but dismantled his entire organization." She was ecstatic. "If your not careful, sector V, then Sector H will take over your lead spot." She laughed.

Wally, who had previously been making kissy face with Kuki stopped only to yell at the screen, "Ain't no bloody sector H taken over our spot. Sector V is still in the lead and don't you forget that."

Not startled by Wally's uproar one bit Rachel continued, "In any case they have specially requested that sector V be in attendance. See you there, Nigel." Numbuh 362 winked and then signed off.

Nigel blushed at the blank screen and then turned to his team, "You heard the lady, lets get going. Teens Next Door choose your vehicles."

Kuki was the first to get up, "I got Hippy-Hop." She picked her favorite robot in the shape of a bunny that she had used since she was a kid. "There's room for two." She directed at Wally.

"Oi! No way am I riding in that froo froo bunny robot." He said waving his hands in the air. The others laughed as Kuki stormed out of the conference room—she had been DENYED.

Hoagie stood up, sleeveless, brown leather jacket making swishy sounds, "I'll be taking my new 2x4 motor jet. It hovers over water and fly's like the wind." He told everyone excitedly.

"Great I'll get my helmet." Abby interjected.

"Sorry babe but it only seats one." Hoagie said, kissing her hands, "But I'll add on another seat after the test run okay." He kissed her on the forehead and then left for the vehicle bay leaving a rather furious Abby behind, she to had been – DENYED!

Number one cleared his throat; "I have to pick up Lizzie so I'll just use whatever is left in the bay when I get back." He huffed out a sigh and then left for the elevator.

"Well don't we feel special." Abby said sarcastically, folding her arms. "I guess we're traveling partners, lets go." She grabbed Wally by his orange hood and headed for the vehicle bay. They'd be taking the Bomb-Bomb assaulter… alone… together.

Wally could feel himself starting to sweat already...

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"Bomb-Bomb Assaulter online." The same computer voice said as the vehicles systems started up. Spacious and comfortable, the inside was like a living room. On one side the hull was outfitted with the latest in TND 2X4 technology and on the other sat a refrigerator, flat screen complete with countless video games and systems, a large red sofa and bar. They never could come up with a reason to have all that stuff in an attack vehicle other than, "That's just how we roll."

Numbuh 5 eagerly ran to the main control panel, it's buttons lighting up beneath the screen, and sat in the fuzzy blue rotating chair. With a _blip_ the screen turned on and the cool computer voice spoke to them, "State your destination."

She cleared her throat, "Select from frequent destinations." She said in almost to authoritative voice. Wally plopped down on the red couch, trying to drown out her voice, her oh so sexy voice.

"Recent Travel destinations," The computer began, "Russian Main Base 426T, Texas Main Base 937R, Hawaiian Conference Base 77F, and Canada Maple Syrup Base 45262E, eh." The computer finished.

"Hawaiian Conference Base 77F."

"Request computed. Travel time is approximately two hours and fifty-three seconds. Enable auto pilot?"

"Yes."

"Request computed. Enjoy your flight." With the jolt the Bomb-Bomb Assaulter was speeding through the docking bay and out the concealed door located on a local tennis court.

Abby monitored the screens for a few minutes after take off, just to make sure that everything was going smoothly. About a week back someone forgot to recalibrate the sensors after flying the assault vehicle. So by the time Abby had used it again, the assaulter at assaulted every bird flying in the vicinity.

It turned out that Hoagie was the last one to use it and—forcibly—she made him clean off all the dead birds on the windshield, hull and in the turbines. Though she loved him deeply, she would never forgive him for that horrible experience.

She whirled around in her chair, noticing that Wally was already lounging on the couch. "You're supposed to be monitoring the weapons systems." She said coolly.

How he hated the sexiness of her voice, "Oh, please." He started, eyes not leaving the T.V, "We're flying to hours, nothing in gonna cruddy happen."

The sound of her footsteps coming towards him, made a tingle go up his spine until he could feel her breath on his neck, "Whatchya watchin'?" she asked him, he long hair spilling onto the couch.

He turned his head so that he faced her and then rose from his relaxed position, allowing space on the couch, "X-Men: The Last Stand. Want to watch?" he asked her. After a beat he realized the he had just invited her to sit on a couch with him, a rather small couch.

"Sure, it's one of my favorite movies." She said, jumping over the back of the couch and landing softly beside him. He finally took the time to look her up and down. She wore her usual red cap, given to her by her sister a long time ago, a formfitting dark blue top that showed off every curve—Wally suppressed a shudder—he perfect legs were compliment by the all to mini, mini skirt she was wearing and to finish it all off a pair of white and black Vans. _Why me?_ He asked himself.

The were sitting side by side, though Wally had tried to escape, it was like she wanted to sit next to him. When she put her head on his shoulder he was forced once again to control his own rebellious body. At the moment he would have given anything to be able to cup her chin and kiss her, just enough to make her forget all about Hoagie. But then he remembered Kuki and her ridiculous Hippy-hop bot.

_You're happy with Kuki, you're happy with Kuki!_

"So," Abby broke the awkward silence that was slowly engulfing the hull of the ship as the credits rolled.

"So." Repeated Wally.

"How's Kuki?" she asked, lifting her head off his shoulder and then grabbing the remote. She began flipping through the channels.

"She's fine." He said shortly, not wanting to get into detail, "How's Hoagie? You guys going well?"

There was a small silence before she answered, "Yeah, we're doing good." She stopped flipping once she reached MTV, "Oh my gosh! I love this song!" she stood up and began dancing as the song _Lip Gloss_ flared up.

She popped, locked and swerved in ways that would make any man's jaw drop to the floor and stay there, Wally, was having a hard time keeping his up and some other parts down. "Come on." She held out her hand, inviting Wally to dance with her.

He frantically shook his head, "I don't cruddy dance." It was more like he couldn't dance but who was to say.

Abby stopped her dancing and placed her hands on her curvy hips, "Come on, I'll show you." She grabbed his hands and forcefully dragged him up to her. "Now there are different ways to dance." She began, placing her hands on his hips now, moving them side-to-side, "There's the waltz type dancing, head banging and then there club dancing."

"Uh-huh." Was all Wally could muster out.

"Lip Gloss is for the clubs to follow my lead." She suddenly turned around and pulled Wally in tight behind her. He was almost tall enough to rest his chin on her head.

Wally let out a breath he didn't no he was holding. His body was pressed against hers, just like in his dream. He thought about turning away but couldn't bring himself to do it—was he enjoying himself? The answer was yes.

"Okay, now put for hands on my hips and… yeah there you go," she started out slow , increasing in tempo so that they matched the tempo of the song. Bumping and grinding they danced, Abby showing him positions of dancing that could have easily been part of the Kama Sutra… in fact he could swear they were.

He lightened up after a few seconds, allowing himself to enjoy the song and dancing. Soon he was the one leading which way she swerved and when she would dip for him—he liked being in control. Abby turned to him, hands above her head and did some sort of snake-like descent to the floor, coming back up slowly, hands running up his legs, up his chest and then stopping at his face. The song ended shortly after but they were frozen in that position. Both of them were panting, Wally still had his hands on her hips and Abby still had her hands on his face.

"Wally…" she breathed, "You uh… dance really well for someone who doesn't do it a lot." She quickly brought her hands back down.

"Thanks," Wally removed his hands, "But you must remember, I am Wallabee Beetles. Therefore I can do anything."

"I thought that was Kim Possible." Abby laughed.

The computer made a dinging sound, bringing the two to alert, "Arrival in five minutes. Please prepare for descent."

Abby ran back to the control panel and pushed some buttons. Two chairs arose out of the floor, equipped with oxygen masks and seatbelts. As the buckled in the computer voice beckoned again, "Incoming transmission."

"Accept." Said Abby.

Hoagies face appeared on the screen, his sunglasses reflecting the sun into their eyes, "Why aren't you guys here yet?"

"Well we do have the largest vehicle give us some time, jerk." She said playfully.

"Don't worry mate, I took good care of your girlfriend." Wally said, not realizing exactly how it sounded.

Hoagie's tone was not very playful, it was almost accusatory, "Just hurry up and get down here." The screen went blank.

As Abby finished buckling her seatbelt Wally turned to her, "I thought you said everything was okay with you to."

"They are."

"Then why did he sound like that?" he asked.

He didn't get an answer, as the assaulter jolted, preparing to land on the island landing strip where many other TND plane, crafts and pods were landing and bustling around. Looking over his shoulder, Wally could swear that he saw a tear fall from beneath Abby's goggles… or maybe it was condensation.

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_Mmhmm!! So here's my promise to you all that i will update more often! haha!_

_Hope you liked it! I gave you dancing, lustfullness... what more do you want? Hot washing machine sex? Well... you'll just have to wait them won't you! lol..._

_I'm so weird!_

_-TD16_


	3. Project: HMONE 7

Rawr! Okay new chappie! YAY! It only took... like forever lol!

_Thanks toooo ::drum roll::_

_-xXHersheykissesXx_

_-Evilevergreen _

_-Nutso-bonzo7_

_-Rashell_

_-Numbeh 013_

_-Kin kin_

_::huggles for all:: thanks for the reviews guys!_

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The Bomb-Bomb Assaulter landed with a head-shaking thud. "Landing completed. System shut down?" the computer asked the two agents sitting within the carrier.

"Yes." Wally said, unbuckling himself and taking off his oxygen mask. He extended a hand to Abby and chivalrously help her up.

"System shut down in three… two… one." All the blinking lights and switches went black and the large big screen receded back into the ceiling of the hull. The exit door opened up, allowing a sudden flood of tropical sunlight wash over them.

"Oi!" Wally squinted as he walked down the hatch stairs towards the island operatives handing out leis and playing the ukulele. Abby was right on his heels, fixing hair.

"Welcome to the Hawaiian conference base!" said a young girl, putting two of her pink and blue leis around his neck, "The rest of Sector V is awaiting you in the hotel. Please have a complementary colada." Another island operative appeared holding a flower embellished wooden tray with the TND logo and a few pina coladas with little umbrellas in them.

Wally took two and graciously handed one to Abby, little blue-red-white umbrella She gave him a small smile and twirled the umbrella around before taking a sip from the crazy straw. As Wally walked off down the sandy airway she followed him, bobbing her head to the tropical island beat.

After a small walk through a crowded TND check in line, souvenir line and beat boxing crew they arrived at the entrance of the hotel where the rest of sector V was being held, only to have to put up with a rather rude check in operative.

"No I.D, then no get in!" she said, her strong Chinese accent shining through.

"We're sector V!" Wally said slowly and loudly, "As in the specially requested sector by Sector H."

The check in operative leaned in, "Why didn't you say so just let me… no I.D then no get in! How many times do I have to tell you?" she yelled.

Abby leaned over to whisper in his ear, "I see they got sector C-2 from China working security this year." She said with a laugh. Reaching in her pocket she pulled out a small metal card, completely black except for the TND logo above a black scan line and handed it to the girl.

After swiping it and then typing on her computer the check in operative smiled, handed her card back to Abby along with two keys. "Sector V has been assigned to the Osaka Wing on floor 14… your teammates have been…"

"Waiting for us," Wally cut in, "We cruddy know all ready jeesh. Come on Numbuh 5." He said, rolling his eyes at the clerk operative and the pulling Abby over to the elevator.

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Hoagie Gilligan, already in his swim trunks and a towel over his shoulder, paced back and fourth in his room. "Hurry up…" he mumbled to himself, looking at the Japanese image embellished clock hanging over the four-post bed. The room, styled after feudal era Japan, was draped in an assortment of reds, blacks, whites and gold. In the middle of the vast room sat a small sink in area with a table adorned in cherry blossoms and incense. "Hurry up!" he groaned louder.

"Hoagie… what are doing in my room?" Abigail asked in a hushed voice as she ran in, "You know TND rules… no hanky panky or you get the spanky spanky."

"Spanky spanky sounds good to me." Hoagie said grabbing her waist.

She pushed him off violently, "Stop. We'll get penalized." She scorned him, closing the door, "You need to leave before anyone hears you were in my room."

Not convinced that she really wanted him gone, Hoagie moved toward her, doing one of his patented growls, "Come on babe, just give me a little something." He said placing his hands on her hips and drawing her into a kiss.

It started innocently, as all kisses do, but with Hoagie's wondering hands it became passionate, lustful and Abby had to push away. Angry, Hoagie forced her into another kiss only to have her duck from the circle of his arms and scramble over to her red and gold bed. He chased after her, knocking her to the bed, "Abby! What's up with you?" a sudden look of terror swept across his face, "You're not… not pregnant are you."

"NO!" she said immediately, disgusted look on her face, "I'm just not in the mood, okay?" she said, fiddling with a golden tassel on her four-post curtains.

Hoagie dropped onto the bed and ran his index finger down her arm, "So last night I heard you yelling his name in you sleep again."

Abby made a small jolt, "Who's name?" she stood up, pretending to check her luggage for anything missing.

"Numbuh 4's name." He stood and in a mocking tone began to speak, "Oh Wally, Wally I need you. Wally come to me. Stuff like that."

"I thought I told you to stop with that." She told him, repressing a wave of anger that wanted to escape. That had been the fourth time in the last month he's said that and she was beginning to wonder if she was really talking in her sleep. "I want you to leave this – " Before she could finish, Hoagie had her against the wall, his large hands gripping her wrists tightly above her head. She tugged but could not get free of her boyfriends vice grip, "What the fuck?!" she screamed.

Hoagie slammed his lips hungrily onto hers and then pulled away, Abby gasped for air, "I don't think you remember who you're talking to." He told her. He shifted her wrists into one of his hands and used the other one to lift her.

He carried her over to the bed, dropped and straddled her, his right hand still holding her wrists. "Get off me!" Abby squealed.

"Who do you love! Say it!" he yelled in her face, "Say it or you know what will happen."

"GET…" silence engulfed the room as Hoagie's hand let loose an animalistic force across her face, leaving a large red mark. Being extremely flexible Abby found the nerve to swing both her legs up, hitting him in the chin hard enough to send him into the wall behind the bed. Taking the moment of freedom, she rolled off the bed and out the door, resisting the urge to go back and beat Hoagie as he did her.

No tears, she ran down the hallway, not taking the time to notice the ancient Japanese architecture or the different symbols on all the doors, she just walked.

She found familiar situations rushing back into her mind. Her cheek burned, just like it always did after he got mad or drunk. Am I his punching bag? She asked herself raising her hands to her cheek. How many more times? Why?

"Numbuh 5? Is that you?" A familiar, heavily foreign accented voice called to her from behind. "Oi, what are you doing here?"

Abby kept her back to Wally, "Just looking around." She finally took notice to the large, intricately painted blue vase next to her.

Wally shook some blond hair out of his, "Come take a walk with me. I can't find Kuki anywhere."

Abby let out a chuckle, "Glad to know I'm second on your list." She looked above his head at the open door behind him. In Kanji was the word "Keima" meaning "Knight" in Japanese. Her glance shifted back towards his blond head, "So this is your room eh?"

Wally nodded, closing the door as he came towards her, "Yeah… bit big for just one person if you ask me." He took her hand in his, "Come on, we'll take a walk along the beach for a bit before heading back for the ceremony."

Abby smiled, enjoying the way he pulled her down the hallway and to the elevator.

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On the outside, lounging on a beach towel, sat Nigel Uno, hands behind his head and not a care in the world. He grinned as the sea breeze licked his baldhead and let a small yet audible sigh of content. "Sector V should go on more vacations to the beach." He said to himself.

He adjusted his sunglasses and drifted back off into his dream world.

"Ahem." Said someone, obviously annoyed, from behind his eyelids.

Nigel paid whoever it was no mind.

"Ahem!" it said again, this time more angrily. Nigel once again ignored until—

"UGH!" sand was suddenly being kicked into every open nook and cranny possible. He stood up abruptly, trying to blow the sand out of his nose and caught a glimpse at his attacker, "Lizzy?" he sounded like he had forgotten all about her… because he had.

"Don't you Lizzy me, Nigel Uno!" She shook a pudgy finger at him, reddish-brown pigtails swishing with every move she made. Unlike Numbuh two, who had long since grown out of his baby fat, Lizzy did not. Her weight became apparent when she stood next to someone as muscular as Numbuh one but she didn't care to work out or eat right.

"I told you to come get me before you went to the beach!" she screamed in his face. Other people on the beach began to snicker.

Numbuh one shook some sand off his fairly tanned chest and gave a throaty cough, "Sorry I forgot." Was all he said. He wasn't sorry, nor did he forget… he had alternate plans to attend to.

He reached into his pocket and pulled ot his wallet, "Here," he shoved nearly fifty dollars into the rather large bosom on Lizzy's suit and smiled, "Why don't you go buy a new dress for the ceremony tonight, my treat."

Not missing a beat, Lizzy graciously accepted the money wad given to her and embraced Numbuh one in a suffocating hug, "Oh Nigey! I forgive you!" she began down the beach towards the small shops, "See you later, shnokkums."

As the dot of Lizzy disappeared from sight, Nigel let out a sigh of relief, "That was too close." He murmured, looking at his watch, "She'll be here any minute."

The sun was touching the sea now, casting an orange glow over everything and everyone. The air was cooler now but still carried that all to noticeable salinity of the sea. "Waiting for me handsome?" someone asked him as two slender arms wrapped around him, feeling around his stomach as if he were a map.

He gave a shiver, her hands were so soft and

Seemed to know exactly where to touch him. He enjoyed the way she gave small kisses on the back of his shoulder and the way she breathed sensually in his ear. Everything about her sent waves of pleasure through his body. "I've waited a little to long, in my opinion." He said back finally.

She laughed and moved her hands to the waist of his swim trunks, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you to."

Her hands wandered down his thigh and then came back up meeting and greeting with his manhood, "Have you really. I couldn't tell with the absence of calls unless there's an emergency."

Nigel swallowed hard and his eyes rolled temporarily to the back of his head, she was working him a little to well, "You know… that we can't publicly…" he was having a hard time speaking, "You're the head of TND we can't…"

"You talk to much." She cut him off. "Now turn around, I didn't get dressed up for nothing."

Numbuh one turned around slowly, just to increase the already rising tension between them. "Wow." He scanned her up and down. "Rachel you look…"

"Hot? I know." She laughed. Rachel, when on duty usually wore a suit or casual loose clothing but now, alone with Nigel, she looked all to perfect. She wore a simple black bikini. The top had rhinestones in a random pattern and the bottoms tied on the sides. Her lower back length blond hair was sprawled over he shoulders and fluttered in the breeze. "Are you just going to stare or are we going to have some fun?"

"Either way I win." Nigel said, raising an eyebrow, before attacking her lips with his and slowly bringing her to the sand with him where he could have his way with her all to perfect body.

"Wait," Rachel pulled away from him, "There's an abandoned shack in the cove jus

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"You're going down! Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy?" Numbuh four yelled in triumph as he passed Numbuh five by using his turbo booster. "I'm just to fly for my own good sometimes."

Abby scoffed, not taking her eyes off the screen, "Why isn't my turbo filling?" She yelled at him, "No fair my gauge is broken."

"Don't blame the game for your lack of skill." Wally said, still increasing the amount of distance between them.

Abby, not one to take taunting from anyone, began formulating a plan. She quickly looked over her shoulder and gasped, "Hey look it's Kuki!"

"Where!"

While his back was turned, Abby took the opportunity to drive his car off the road and into the digital cliff, "Ha! Sucka!" the screen flash "Winner N5" and then went black.

Angry Wally slammed his hand into the consol, "That was cheating."

Hands on her hips and a smile on her face she took great delight in his flustered expression, "Your fault for being to gullible."

The noise in the arcade seemed to engulf them for a moment before Wally smiled again. He found it quite near impossible to stay mad at her for using the sharp wit of hers. He shrugged, "Well, I guess I'm buying the drinks. What do you want?"

"Pina colada."

"Virgin?"

The way he said it made Abby laugh, "Yeah. You'd know all about those, wouldn't you?" she said in a tone, sitting down at a round table with a red-cushioned booth on one side. She watched as Wally made his way through the massive sea of fellow operatives.

Most of them wore badges of which sector they were from while others just seemed to mix in with the faces. Abby took a moment to recognize all of Sector P… they seemed to travel in a set formation wherever they went. Sector G wore their classic green and gold badges and buzzed about the arcade.

Wally reemerged, two frosted glasses of pina coladas in hand, "Here you go." He handed one to her as he took a seat next to her in the booth. Together they watched the operatives bustle from one game to another just as they had earlier. Wally turned to her, "We have about two hours before the ceremony starts up, do you wanna go to the beach or something?" he inquired.

Holding back the sudden rush of blood to her face, Abby nodded from beneath her red cap. Wally smiled and gestured for her to follow him.

Out of the arcade and down the sandy street of beachfront shops, Numbuhs four and five made their way towards the sunset illuminated beach. The water was slowly turning a darker shade of blue and the sand, a darker shade on brown as night set in. Abby sipped on her colada, enjoying the sand that was working its way into her shoes and between her toes. She silently watched the moon rise from were the sun set and smiled.

Unnoticed, behind her Wally seemed to be beaming with joy. While Abby was watching the moon he was watching her. The moon's rays seemed to radiate off her face in the loveliest way. His green eyes were stuck on her, immovable, unrelenting and hungry. Only the need for his pinapple-coconutty drink could snap him out of his trance.

A few minutes later Abby let out a sigh that caught Wally off guard, "What?" he asked her.

"Feel that cool night beach air. You don't get this kind of freshness when you live in the suburbs." She laughed.

Wally chuckled a little and his eyes scanned the horizon. His eyes fell upon a section of the beach, rocky and secluded; next to it sat a decrepit old shack. He tapped on Abby's shoulders, "Look over there." He pointed.

She lifted her cap a bit, "Whoa!" she exclaimed, "Let's go check it out." She ran forward.

"What? Oi!" he found himself chasing after her across a stretch of sandy beach and down into a rocky crag, trying to avoid the extremely slippery rocks so that he wouldn't fall into the water crashing upon them.

Abby stopped short of a cave set into the inside of the mountainside and squinted, as though trying to pierce the darkness with her own dark eyes. As far as she could tell it was empty and deep. A soft breeze caused the cave to moan. Wally came up beside her, panting. He to stared into the darkness, knowing he couldn't see, but stared anyway. He glanced over at his comrade for a second and then back at the cave opening, "Wanna go in?" he asked, eyes not shifting from the darkness.

A small moment went by and then, to his utter surprise, Abby took his hand in hers and nodded, "Yeah lets go." She started towards the entrance first, dragging Wally with her.

Their feet splashed in the shallow stream of running water that went though the cave. The beams of moonlight that lit their way in the beginning slowly faded to a dull shimmer as the progressed further and further into the dank cave. Stalactites and stalagmites littered the ceiling and floor making it hard and slightly dangerous to walk. Wally tensed up, felt Abby's hand brush against his side and then relaxed again. He could hardly see two inches in front of him, yet his emerald eyes continued to scan all they could.

Once they had gotten to the point of being submersed into pitch blackness Wally was forced to let go of Abby's hand in order to activate his utility watch, the one gadget he wore all the time. He pushed one of the various buttons and a very bright light erupted from it, illuminating everything eround them.

"Aw man!" Abby cried out after her eyes got used to the light. The cave suddenly slopped downward into a tiny opening that the water nearly filled. It was big enough to go through but only if the person was crawling. Abby looked at Wally expectantly.

"What?" he asked, raising his shoulders to his ears.

Abby, gave a huff and then sat down on a rounded stalagmite, "Do we turn back?"

Wally took a seat on by the mini stream of water. "I don't know." He said. After a moment passed he began taking off his shoes and socks, "But I do know that I don't want to go to that cruddy ceremony honoring sector H."

"What are doing?" Abby asked him, giving him quite the peculiar stare.

He shook the blond hair from his face and smiled at her, "I'm gonna see where this leads to. Come if you want." He took off his orange, sleeveless sweater and white undershirt, exposing the layers of muscles that adorned his torso.

Abby swallowed hard, looking him up and down. She never told anybody but to her, but anytime Wally took off his shirt it sent unknown sensations through her body. She quickly snapped back to reality, "You don't even know where it leads. It's not safe to go by yourself." She told him, eyes stuck on his abs.

He gave her a smirk and began unbuckling his belt, "Then come with me." He used his belt to tie his clothes together but kept his shorts on.

"Nice boxers." Abby smirked. With a sigh she rose off her stalagmite seat and began stripping down. First the flip-flops came off, then she sensually stripped her shirt off – Wally nearly lost feeling in his legs. Abby looked behind her for a second, "You say something?"

Wally shook his head violently.

"Oh, okay." She slid her skirt off, folded it and placed it on top of the stalagmite with the rest of her clothes. "Okay… let's do this."

Wally was drifting in and out of consciousness. Standing before him was a nearly naked Abby. They were alone, in a cave—a very deep cave—where he could make his dream come true.

She stepped back into the water and walked towards the small entrance, "I think that we should be able to…" she disappeared beneath the water.

Wally shot up, "Abby!" he jumped in the water, "ABBY!"

A moment went by and the panic increased within him. What is she drowned, what if there was something beneath the water, what if…

She resurfaced and sprayed Wally in the face with a geyser of water from her mouth. "There's something on the other side." She said, pulling herself out of the deep area of the water and next to Wally.

It took him a while to respond, he was to busy watching the droplets of water run down her body, "Uh, what?"

"There's something on the other side. I saw green light." She told him. "Take a deep breath and follow me." she scooted to the edge, where shallow stream met deep water, prepped for going under again but felt something suddenly grip her right wrist. It was Wally, frowning intently at her face.

"What's that?" he asked in almost a whisper.

"What's what?" Abby tugged, making no avail to freedom.

Wally's other hand shot forward and cupped her chin, turning her face slowly to his left, "That." He stated simply, staring at the large highly discolored spot on her face.

"Just a bruise. I ran into my room door earlier." Abby lied. "It doesn't even hurt."

Wally ran his hand down the bruise and notice the small flinch she gave, "Doesn't hurt, eh?" he finally let go of her wrist and scooted next to her. "Look, I know it's none of my business but… earlier of the BBA, after Hoagie called, I looked over and…were you crying?" he asked, full well knowing that she wasn't going to give him an honest answer.

"No." she looked at him and smiled—the fakest smile she'd ever had to make—"Now enough of this, let's go and see what's up with that green light." She slipped in so that only her neck and head were visible and held her hands out for Wally. "Come on."

Wally, thought about panicking and then thought about actually going. _No! What are you thinking?_ He began telling himself. Before he knew it he was in the water, hair sticking to his face. Even though he could swim now, a small panic from his childhood still remained.

"Relax." She cooed into his ear, "Everything will be fine."

That alone was enough to relax him. He nodded, looking straight into eyes.

"Okay, now take a deep breath and follow me. Don't let go of me whatever you do." She told him, "1…2…3 go!"

Water was rushing over his face, up his nose and all over his body. As cold as it was it was also quite refreshing. As instructed he followed close to Abby and kept a light on her at all times—it was almost enough of a substitute for not dominating her earlier. She reminded him of a mermaid by the way she swam and the way her hair floated elegantly above her head between strokes.

The water itself was alarmingly clear. He expected murky, swamp-like water but it was the exact opposite. With his utility watch on it was almost like swimming through glass. And then he saw it. A green light was radiating through the water from somewhere in front of them.

After a small amount of time passed he felt his lungs beginning to ache for air. Tapping on Abby's side to get her attention he pointed upwards. She shook her head and then pointed upwards. It took Wally a moment to realize that she meant there was to air pocket. Panic returned to him.

Things around him began to blur and fade, he could feel himself slowly drifting down until… he felt two soft lips press against his, giving him air, giving life! Everything slowly came into focus including Abigail, one of her hands holding the back of his head and the other wrapped around his back. Once his lungs were inflated again, he pulled away, wondering just how much air she had left and thanked her with a nod.

She nodded back, guided his hands to her hips again and took off towards the light. The water increased in temperature the closer they got to the light and the slowed their pace.

Abby, seeing that there was obvious headroom darted for the surface as she was running out of air. Like something out of the little mermaid she popped out of the water and sucked in as much air as she could, Wally following suite.

"I had no idea it was that long of a swim." She panted and whipped the water off her face. "You okay Numbuh 4?"

Wally coughed trying to get some water out of his lungs, "Yeah, I'll be fine." He assured her. His surroundings came into view and he gave a small gasp, "Whoa. Look at this place."

They were in what looked to be a lab. A giant computer screen on one end of the wall was complimented by many little ones below it. Buttons and switches adorned the walls, all of them beeping and flashing in random patterns. The source of the green light was a large green stone, floating in between a hollow glass tube.

Wally slowly walked toward the glass and pressed his fingers to it, droplets of water sliding down the glass, "What is it?"

Abby shot him a glare, "Like I would know, just don't touch anything." She ordered. Briefly looking over the computer screens and controls, she attempted to understand what the small room was for and why it was underground. "It must be one of those top secret TND operations." She tried.

Wally nodded in agreement, not that he could make head or tails of the situation, "Must be."

The room suddenly filled with light and an unknown deep voice. Wally quickly grabbed Abby's arm and dragged her into a space where the screens did not touch—it was a tight fit. _Not now, not now, not now, PLEASE not now,_ Wally begged the lower half of his body as Abby rubbed against him. Pursed together they peered around the corner at whoever was coming into the room.

Two figures glided in, one very skinny and they other fairly large. The door behind them slid shut, cutting off the bright white light that illuminated the room previously and the two began typing on two different keyboards. All the screens in the room suddenly turned on each with something different but all of them had the same window heading "Project H-MONE 7."

Wally squinted in confusion, "Project H-MONE 7? What's that?"

Abby quietly scoffed, "Why do you ask questions that I can't answer?"

Even her sarcasm couldn't quell the storm raging below.

"Is the system calibrated?" the skinnier of the two people asked the other.

"Yes. Test number one is ready to begin." The thicker one's voice was heavy, almost drowsy. "Bringing out test subjects now." She pushed a button that made a panel next to the tube with the glowing green stone move and a platform come out with a cage on it. Inside the cage, two mice sat, nibbling on some pellets.

The thin scientist picked up a clipboard that was hanging on the wall and went to the cage. She began scribbling something down, looking from the clipboard to the mice over and over again until finally she spoke, "Begin exposure and start the timer."

With a nod, the plump scientist pulled a rather large lever. From the cage a tube extended towards the green stone, that suddenly began glowing brighter, thus attaching it to the hollow tube. Abby and Wally, though watching intently, could not follow what was happening.

For a minute or two the mice continued nibbling on their pellets until all to suddenly they were rolling around in the cage, squeaking and chirping. Wally scrunched his face up, "Are they fighting?" he asked.

"No…" Abby whispered, "I think they're… getting it on."

The thin scientist seem to be beaming with life now, "Stop exposure!" she yelled, "That's enough. Three minutes."

"That's a new record." The other scientist lifted the lever, making the tube recede back to the cage.

"We're ready to start the next phase of testing." She hung the clipboard back on it's peg on the wall. "We just have to wait for the right time."

The plump scientist seemed to jiggle with excitement, "Oo! I can't believe it's ready! Finally we can take out those TND brats once and for all. And they won't be able to fight it." She laughed.

"Yes. Come, let us go. We have data to record back at headquarters." With another flood of white light they were gone.

Abby and Wally spilled out of the crevice, both of them in awe. The mice were still going at each other, Wally was still holding back a rather painful erection and Abby… Abby was reading the clipboard on the wall in a calm manner. "Numbuh 4, get into the water, we're going back."

"Are we going to tell someone about this… this… whatever it is?" he slid into the clear water and reactivated his watch.

Quickly flipping through the pages she looked him, "We'll tell the higher ups and see what they have to say about it. Until then," she jumped in the water, "We tell no one."

Abby submerged first, clipboard still in her hands but as Wally was about to take the plunge something caught his eye. A fragment of the glowing green rock sat complacently on another platform across from the mice. Without thinking twice about it he quickly got out of the water, grabbed it and shoved it into one of his pockets, snapping it shut so it wouldn't fall out while swimming. With that he did an almost to graceful dive into the water where he caught the small dot of Abby swimming in front of him.

OooOOoooOoooOoOOOoOOOooo

After making it out of the lab, through the underwater cave, putting on their clothes and hiking out of the cave the climbed out of the rocky cove and back to the beach area. The moon had shifted in the sky from when they first began their journey and a thought suddenly popped in their heads, "WE MISSED THE ENTIRE CEREMONY!" they both yelled.

"How much trouble do you think we'll be in?" Wally asked in a way that suggested he did not want an answer.

"A lot!" came a voice from behind him, that made him cringe and shutter.

He and Abby turned around quickly, feet together and chest out, "Numbuh 362, maame and… Numbuh 1?"

Abby's eyes narrowed, "What are you two doing out here, I know that we're late but… that means that so are you."

Nigel and Rachel exchanged awkward looks and began to whistle. "Well… uh…"

"And don't try and tell us that you were sent to look for us because search party attire does not consist of a bikini and sandals." Abby dared.

Rachel opened her mouth as though she was going to say something but quickly recoiled. A smile graced Wally's face, "You two were out her doing the horizontal mumbo, weren't you?" he laughed.

Nigel's entire head turned red, "Shh… not so loud!" there was a moment of silence, "Wait. What were you two doing out here?"

"Don't change the subject." She laughed, "No matter. We're all late so lets head over to the ceremony hall." She brought the clipboards into view, "I'll explain what were up to on the way."

The four of them headed down the beach, Abby giving the full story of what she say in that cave lab. Part way down, however, Wally just had to interject, "Wait… what's Lizzie going to say?"

His response was a fist to the gut… he did not pursue the issue further.

* * *

_Okay so i promiseee ((really this time)) to update more frequently! lol! I really apprieciate all the reviews you guys have been giving me! Like seriously!_

_So next time... it'll get hot... and steamy... oh baby!_

_--TD16_


	4. After Midnight

_"OMG Topdog! What the hell! You updated in less than 458375739 days?!" _

_HAHA! I know isn't it wonderful! All for you all!_

_I know I haven't had chappie three up for long but that's all good! Still gotta give my thanks out to:_

_-**Evilevergreen**: where are you i wanted you to beta this chappie T.T! Nevertheless ::huggles for you::_

_-**Nutso-bonzo7** ::huggles:: you're so funny! lol! Your comments crack me up!_

_-**xXHersheyKissesXx**: You're always so supportive::bear hugs::_

_-**Lillyfan123**: Welcome aboard the 4/5 train! lol::huggles::_

* * *

They did not have to walk long before reaching the extravagant, set into the sand beach conference area. It was set up like a stadium, all the seats tapering down into the center where a circular stage sat. Five small dots were set behind two other dots on the stage, no doubt Sector H, the replacement speaker in Rachel's absence and someone from Sector V. Two spot lights almost hit the four and the backed away from the door for a moment, showing their faces now would only be an insult.

Rachel looked absolutely flustered, as though replacing had been the equivalent of slapping her in the face twice, once with a dead fish and the second time with a dead fish and a clown. "How dare they replace me?" she whispered angrily, lurching forward as though she was about storm the room and steal the microphone.

Nigel grabbed her quickly; "Don't get your panties in a bunch. You _were_ preoccupied earlier." He stated firmly.

Almost immediately Rachel stopped her attempted rampage and continued to peer around the corner, "I just want to know who replaced me as the honorary speaker."

As though she had given a cue, one of the dots stepped forward and grabbed the microphone, "Thank you to all of you TND members who came out to honor these fine agents," the speaker said, his tone was strong and full of tension, "As to why Numbuhs 362, 1,4,and…" he paused, "5 could not be here, I will find out." The tone in that last section of his speech made Abby cold all over.

Hoagie cleared his throat and continued, "Thank you once again for coming and enjoy the rest of your stay at the Hawaii base. Aloha." He returned the microphone to the stand.

"Damn." Rachel sighed. She turned around and gave the three behind her a bid good night, "I'm going to get so much grief about this tomorrow morning when I get back to moon base."

That struck Nigel, "You're not staying?"

"No." she touched his face gingerly, "I have to get back. After all I _am_ the head of TND." She laughed, "Good night numbuh one… four, five." She headed off towards the hotel area.

It took only a few seconds for Nigel to give in, "Wait, I'll walk you to your room." He called, chasing after her.

After a small laughing fit Abby peered around the door frame again and was greeted by the worst possible person available, Hoagie. He simply stood there—looking at her—like he was inspecting her for something. He stepped through the threshold, glared directly at her and then caught sight of Wally standing behind her, staring off into space.

"Abby, where'd you get off to earlier?" he asked her in a way that really meant was, "You bitch, you slammed me into a wall!"

Abby stood up straight, totally intimidated. A few hours previously he had smacked her and she had kicked him into a wall. "I went for a walk." She said simply.

"With him?" He gestured towards Wally, who suddenly began paying attention.

Abby swallowed hard before answering, "Yeah, with Wally. He was the only one available at the time."

Hoagie seemed to growl at that moment, sending another chill up Abby's spine. He shot his hand forward and grasped her wrist in his own. A familiar sensation of pain shot through Abby's arm, "Come on I'll walk you back to your room Abby." He said with such force it shook Abby's insides.

His gorilla-like hands felt like they were grinding her bones into dust and she began to bend under the pressure. Wally, seeing this, quickly interjected himself into the situation, "Actually, she was going to help me find Kuki and…"

"She's in her room." Hoagie said quickly.

Wally bit his lip, "Well, Abby was going to show me where her room is…"

"It's on the other side of…"

"And then we were going to play some video games in my room. The _only_ room with a PS3, X-BOX and a Game Cube." He said hastily. "We have a sort of competition going on."

Hoagie let go of Abby's wrist, letting a fall back a bit. "Great then I'll come and watch."

If Abby could have wished for a miracle it would have looked like the crazy Chinese agent coming through the elevator carrying orders from the head TND office that would make Hoagie go away. She closed her eyes, I wish, I wish, I wish…

"Hey you!" came a voice—a crazy Chinese accented voice, "You have orders from TND head office!" It was the crazy check in agent again.

Hoagie turned around almost fuming, "What?"

"TND. Head Office. Orders. You. Am I not speaking English here?" she said angrily, shoving a large vanilla folder into his chest. "You come with me now."

Hoagie coughed, the wind had been knoced clear out of his chest, "Can't it wait, I was in the middle of something."

She cupped her chin with the her thumb and index finger, "Let me think… NO!" she grabbed his arm and violently dragged him to unknown parts.

"I'll come see you in the morning Abby, be sure." He called just before he disappeared.

As usual he had left her with something to think about, to fear until the next time she saw him. She begin to wonder what he'd do to her next. More hitting, maybe an actual weapon? However she could not feel complete and total hatred towards him because of the guilt lodged deep within her.

OOooOOooOO

Five years ago, the day before KND was no more and the TND was created. A group of adults had banned together to create A.P.P.L.E: Adults (and teens) Positively Pushing for Like Evil. The neredowell group consisted of nothing less that every baddie they'd fought in the past; Mr. Boss, the head of the operation, Mega Mom and Destructo Dad, Stickybeard the Pirate and his motley crew, Knightbrace, Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb, The Toilenator and many more.

They divided into squads, finally understanding the concept of organized crime, and took to destroying ever KND clubhouse they could. The operatives got out in time to retreat to KND Moon Base but sector V decided to stay and fight, perhaps hoping to inspire a sense of duty in their fellow operatives.

For a brief moment in time everything was going fine. Sector V, as usual, was single handedly pushing the adults and their ways back with their 2X4 technology. And that's when it all went wrong.

The Toilenator broke through their defenses, not that it was surprising because he was never really a threat to them before. He took to the control room, shutting down the protective grids set on the clubhouse and hacking into the KND main database when two stray operatives attempted to intercept him.

Tommy Gilligan: registered in the KND database as Numbuh T but formerly called "The Tommy" burst onto the scene with one of his inherited cheesy lines. Accompanying him was Mushi Sanban, numbuh three's little sister and just as cheery. They had always wanted to help sector V and they had their chance.

"Stop right there, Toilenator, or we'll wipe the floor with you." Tommy said in his stalker-of-the-night voice, covering his face with his trademark cape and hat. "I am the plunger to your clog, the +yellow stain of justice on your two-ply paper of evil, the…"

"Tommy!" Mushi groaned.

"Oh come on! You have to let me finish!" he whined.

"No time! Let's get him."

"We really don't have to do anything. Everyone knows he's a no good villain." Tommy mocked intentionally in the Toilenator's direction.

"Hey! I'm plenty good!" The Toilenator complained.

"Oo, look at me! I run around with toilet paper on my hands and face." Tommy pranced around like a ballerina. "Not that I didn't get enough of toilets as a kid because of the swirlies people gave me."

"Shut up!" The Toilenator yelled, face turning a kind of rouge color.

"I'm The Toilenator hear me roar… even if it is a girlie roar." Tommy persisted.

"I said shut up!" his face was nearly purple now and the toiletries were beginning to move and swirl around him like little white paper snakes.

"Toile-loser is what they should call…" Tommy was suddenly cut off but a rope of toilet paper wrapping itself snuggly around his chubby little throat. He gasped for air as he tugged on it helplessly.

"TOMMY!" Mushi called. "Let him…" the Toilenator got her to.

In pure joy of rage he lifter them both off the ground by their necks, "Who's the loser now, huh? Who's the loser now?!" he yelled in insanity. He was lost in his toilet filled rage.

"Numbuh five thinks," two yellow lasers shot out from the shadows of the room, snapping the toilet paper snakes in two, dropping the kids to the floor with two small thuds, "That you're still a loser."

"Numbuh 5. Nice of you to join the fun." He said.

Now, the Toilenator has always been a bit wacky, look at his name, but there was something different about him in that instant and Abby felt it in her bones. He may have been a bit off in the past but then he was… gone, he wasn't the dopey Toilenator that they KND had come to laugh at he was… a true villain.

She stared him down, "Get out." She told him, not bothering to waste words on him.

"You know number five." He said in an authoritative tone, "I've always admired you for your coolness under pressure and quick, cat-like skills in the field. You've always seemed like the level headed one, the one able to make difficult decisions."

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well tell me something. Have you ever had to deal with a life or death choice?"

OoooOOoo

"Abby… Abby are you still in there. Earth to Abby." Wally's voice shook her out of her flash back. "Abby?"

She blinked a few times and then smiled at him, "Yeah sorry." She put a hand to her head. She was suddenly lightheaded and out of breathe. "Would you mind, walking me to my room?" she asked him.

"Yeah no problem." Wally said to her coolly but what he really wanted to say was "Can I come in and maybe make out with you as well?" He took her by the shoulders softly and led her to the elevator. As he pushed the up button he noticed that Abby was making an honest effort in hiding her wrist from view. Something told him that Hoagie has grabbed her like that before.

The entire fourteen floor ride was silent, deathly silent. Wally could see Abby, her mind was racing back and fourth through time—back to that horrible day. He thought about saying something, and then thought it best not to. No one had forgotten about that day, how could they? Some people, however, never seemed to let go of the past. As far as Wally was concerned, it was just one of those things that was bound to happen sooner of later. He just wished that the price paid wasn't so high.

With a ping the elevator doors opened on the fourteenth floor, allowing the two to get out. They must've gotten out on the opposite end of where they're rooms were because they ended up near Kuki's room.

She had a large red wood door with a gold kanji for "San" meaning "Three" in Japanese. It was all to fitting.

Wally knocked quietly on the door, "Hey, Kuki, you awake in there?" His response was a frightfully loud snort of sorts followed by some mumbling. He turned to Abby and laughed, "I guess not. Come on."

Once again they were engulfed in silence until the reached Abby's door. Like Kuki's door it was red but her kanji symbol was "Ka: meaning, "Fire." She gingerly turned the doorknob and let the door swing open. For a brief moment she just stared into the room and then to the crack in the wall from where Hoagie had been thrown. It was like she was afraid he would pop out of the closet or one of her suitcases and start hitting her again.

"You okay?" Wally asked.

"Uh," Abby snapped out of it, "Yeah."

Wally yawned, arms stretching upward, "Well, we've had a long day and, I don't know about you, but I'm tired. G'night Abby." He turned and began to walk down the hallway before he heard Abby say something in a low voice. "What?"

"Come in," she said a bit louder.

In the one moment Wally felt like someone had probed his mind, fished out his desire and thrown it at Abby. He wasn't going to make her say in a third time and he hurried back over, trying not to seem eager at the same time.

He followed her in to her luxurious room, hands begging to touch her. He could have cared less about the intricately woven drapery, or the well constructed inset lounge area and the large flat screen T.V and entertainment area—wait—that did catch his interest. "Whoa! I thought my set up was good." He exclaimed.

Abby laughed, "Feel free to get comfortable, I'm gonna go shower. Be right back." She said heading for the bathroom.

Blood rushed quickly to his face, "Okay… just take your time." He said. _Ugh, you are so lame Wallabee Beatles!_ He scorned himself silently, grabbing the remote and turning on the T.V. Before turning it on he looked behind him to make sure Abby was in the bathroom and then pulled out the small fragment of glowing green stone. It was no bigger than his pinky nail and very smooth. No longer interested he shoved it back into his shorts.

For the next fifteen minutes he sat there, flipping through channels, pausing only to see if something interesting was on and in most cases… there was nothing. He tried MTV, ABC, FOX even Cartoon Network and nothing seemed to hold his attention for more than a few moments. Out of the blue a thought occurred to him. It was midnight and what do boys like that's on at midnight? That's right, porn.

He flipped to the Playboy channel, why a TND base had the playboy channel he didn't quite know, nor did he care. His imagination began to substitute Abby and himself in for the people on the screen.

His pants soon became tight—very tight and he didn't no what to do. How long would Abby be in the shower, did he have time to take care of his little friend? The answer was no.

Abby emerged from the bathroom, towel wrapped around her torso and just barely covering her lower half. A river of steam poured out of the doorway and seemed to follow her across the room. She suddenly looked up and one of those "oh-no-you-didn't" looks graced her face. "I know you are not looking at porn on my T.V."

Wally's face scrunched up, both in embarrassment and in slight pain.

Abby stormed over, "I will never understand guy's infatuation with seeing sex on T.V when you have perfectly good, non-silicon girls right in front of you." She plopped down on the couch—still just in her towel.

Wally's eyes nearly popped out of his head and he fought to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. There she was, in a towel, almost completely naked in front of him and watching porn. _This is what most guys dream of!_ He was screaming in his head. Another twinge of pain coursed through him and he scrunched his face up again.

Abby turned, "You okay?" she asked.

"Uh… yeah." Wally twanged again, "It's just that earlier I hurt my shoulder." He quickly put a hand on his right shoulder and pretending to howl in pain.

A look of sympathy graced Abby's face, "Okay lie down on the couch face down." She instructed, standing up.

"What?"

"Lay down. I'm gonna give you a Numbuh 5 special massage. It's something Cree taught me." She laughed.

"Um… look over there!" he pointed in some random area, waited for Abby to turn around, and quickly flipped over so that she couldn't see his hard on. Another squeal of pain escaped from his mouth.

Abby shrugged, "What was I looking for exactly?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing." Wally said, still watching the porno behind her. There was a special on about the Kama Sutra. He suddenly felt weight on his back and peered abound. Abby, still in her towel, had fully straddled him in preparation for his message.

"I gotta remove your shirt." She said, already tugging at the sleeveless orange sweater and white tee. After getting it off she gently ran the tips of her fingers up and down Wally's back, earning a light moan from him. "You like that?" she asked him sexily.

He nodded against the couch cushions, eyes closing slowly. His erection was pulsating now.

Abby started off by lightly bouncing her fingers off the tense parts of his back and progressed into a needing motion. Wally moaned again, this time louder. She smiled. Abby watched his back closely, enjoying the way he would twitch when she hit a sweet spot and the way he rolled his shoulders into her hands. "Okay I'm going to start going a little harder now."

His eyes popped open, _I wish she would phrase things better_, he said to himself.

She pressed down at his shoulders with her thumbs moving them in a slow circular motion. With that she worked her way down his back. Some sort of pulse kept going off from between her legs to the rest of her body—she was craving some Wallabee Beatles in the worst way. She ran her fingers up and down his back again. "All right flip over."

Once again his eyes shot open, "What?" he new perfectly well what she asked him to do but he couldn't, not with his bat being wooden and all.

"Flip. Over." She said more forcefully.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Speaking of Nike…" he tried to change the subject only to have Abby use her powerful legs to roll him herself. He waited for the scream of disgust or a slap in the face, or maybe both—there was no way he was walking out of her room alive now.

But there was silence, besides the people on T.V. Wally opened on of his eyes only to see Abby still straddling him. There was no screaming, no look of disgust, or slapping just Abby, looking from him to his pants.

"Is that… what I think it is?" she asked him, voice riddled with an unreadable tone.

Wally turned apologetic, "I don't know what happen! There was porn and you in a towel and…"

"It's huge." Abby said, cutting him off.

"I know and I'm so, so sorry but… wait… what?" he was confused.

"It's huge." She said again.

Wally smiled, "We grow em' big down under." He joked.

"Obviously," Abby breathed and the lifted one of her eyebrows. She gave Wally a quick glance and then put her hands on the zipper of his shorts.

Wally suddenly twitched, _is she about to… She is about to… ohmygosh!_ He yelled to himself.

_ZIP!_ Abby threw his shorts somewhere in a corner and looked at the tent made with his boxers. With a her slender fingers she pulled the boxers away slowly and watched as Wally's cock made it's grand entrance. It was large, almost menacing, Abby wondered how he fit into jeans.

"Day-um!" was all she could say.

Animalistic desire took over her face, she was no longer Abby, but a panther that had cornered it's prey and was ready to pounce. She ran a slender fingered hand up is leg and took his erected member, stroking it gently. Wally thought he was about to explode the second their nerves connected, "AH!" moaned loudly, eye temporarily swirling to the back of his head. He was in ecstasy, heaven, paradise, nirvana—he swore that in that instant he could fly.

Abby crawled a little closer to him, and enveloped him with her mouth. There was no way she could take the entire length of him, no way. In any case she tried, head bobbing up and down. Her tied back hair came loose as she did so, completely covering her face.

Wally shifted her hair to one side. She looked up, thinking he was trying to tell her something, "Something wrong?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No. I want to see you." He sat up from his laying position, ran his hand through her long black hair and stopped at the towel she was wearing, "All of you." He ripped it off and through it randomly across the room.

Abby gave him a sensual smile and then went back to working his manhood. She stopped sucking a few minutes later and licked the length of his cock up and down, precum beginning to seep from the opening. She licked her fully lips and stared into his eyes. When she attempted to go back to it Wally tugged on her hair, "Ouch! What?" she squealed.

Wally was damn near out of breath, "Don't… I don't want to cum yet." He said, cupping her chin and guiding her to his face. Using one hand he held her head in place and with the other he found her wet, hot, womanhood.

Abby gave him a sharp gasp but he pressed his lips harder to hers to silence it. He played with her swelling flower, enjoying how wet she was already. He pulled away, hand still gripping her head, "You like that?" he shoved one of his fingers in and began to play with her insides.

She gave him a stuttered gasp, throwing her head back, "Yeah." She moaned.

"Then you're going to love this." He shoved another finger inside. Abby let out a gasp so loud that time he feared someone might have heard. "Lay down for me." he told her.

She backed off of him and laid down on the couch, long, tan legs spread to that Wally had a picture perfect view of what she was giving him. She was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling in a very sensuous way.

This time Wally was the animal, on his hands and knees he lowered his head into her moist sex giving her such a shockwave of pleasure that she arched a good six inches from the couch. Gently he placed a hand on her stomach and cooed to her, "It gets better." He told her with a huge smile.

Wally climbed in between her legs and gripped his glistening manhood, staring down at her with his animal emerald eyes. "Ready?" he asked her in a cocky way.

Abby laughed, "Maybe. The question is are you?"

With another smile Wally slid the tip in, exerting a loud, reverberating growl, "So tight." He said through clenched teeth. He continued to push forward, his member slowly disappearing into her. It was like trying to shove a square block into the circle block hole—hard but not entirely impossible.

When he was finally fully inside her they both let out two breathes they had been holding. Wally was afraid he was going to cum right then and there and Abby was just surprised he managed to get into her.

"You're so fucking big!" she squealed, enjoying every moment.

Wally's eyes fluttered open and shut, "So. Tight." He murmured.

He started pumping at a slow pace just to get comfortable and steadily increased in speed. Abby gripped the couch cushions as though she was hanging on for life. Wally growled again and lifted her up so that he was in a sitting position and she was on top, never loosing pace.

He gripped her face so that he could look at her while he pounded her mercilessly. She bit her lip, from fear of screaming out loud, "Tell me you like it." Wally ordered.

"I—I…" she could barely breath, let alone talk. She took hold of the back of the couch behind him in an effort to stabilize herself. "I…"

"You can do it." He laughed.

"I… LOVE IT!" she yelled.

Wally took the moment to kiss her hungrily again. He had to move her hair out of the way but their lips were locked, their scuba training coming in handy now.

Wally suddenly hand to pull away from her face, his teeth grinding within his mouth. "I'm… I think I'm gonna." He buried his face in the nape of Abby's neck and clenched at her hips ferociously.

Abby took her hands off the couch and in a fit of to much pleasure dug her nails into his shoulders, leaving small trenches where blood trickled out. Wally didn't seem to notice.

Almost simultaneously, they screamed. Abby felt like someone was pouring hot wax into her body and Wally could feel her inner walls convulsing around him. Abby arched her back , nails digging deeper into Wally's shoulders, and then she collapsed on him, completely worn out. With a final lunge Wally was spent and could barely keep his eyes open, "Damn," he breathed into her neck. With the strength he had left he lifted her so that he could pull out, orgasmic fluid spilling everywhere. Never in his life had he cum so much. It completely covered his manhood, Abby's lower cavern and the sofa cushion—an accomplishment indeed.

Abby gave him a airy laugh that took up a lot of the little energy she had left, "Damn is right." She said.

Peering over Wally's shoulder she read the clock "It's 1:00 am." She said in low tone, "It wouldn't make sense for you to go now."

Wally pressed his forehead to hers, taking in her scent, "Is that your way of asking me to stay?"

Abby rose from the couch, taking Wally's hand in hers and guided him to the bed, "Yeah." She slipped under the covers, Wally following her.

He made a cringing sound, "Ah." He reached for his shoulders, "What are you a cat now. I could have sworn you were a dog person."

Abby took a glance at the rending area of his shoulders and chuckled, "Think of it as my mark being left of you." She smiled.

She raised her hands and clapped twice—sending them into darkness. They continued to kiss for a moment, but as worn out as they were they slowly drifted into sleep.

_Not exactly like my dream, but it will do._ Wally joked to himself.

* * *

_So yeah... I really didn't want to have the scene yet... but I needed to stall for time haha! I hope it made everyone very hot and bothered muhahaha!...i wasn't kidding... hehe!_

_Uh yeah... so maybe... just maybe this is a sign that I'll be updating and busting out chapters way faster! MUHAHA!_

_Lurv you all!_

_--TD16_

_P.S. My new boyfriend is like... a life size Wally... in everyway...and by EVERY i mean EVERYYY! lol!_

_Payce!_


	5. Check it out

_Sorry guys! I went on vacation... to Las Vegas... you can forgive me right?_

_Haha in any case thanks to the following peeps for Reviewing:_

-**Lilyfan123:** WOOT! I luv ya mucho!

-**Nutso-bonzo7:** as usual! I luv ya girl.

-**xXHersheyKissesXx:** you make me to fuzzy with your reviews! I'm glad i could make you day!!! hehe!

-**SouthsideGurl:** hell yeah this story is sexy! lol! Thanx for the comment!

-**Rashell:** you go gurl!

-**loser with a pen:** Welcome aboard!::huggles::

* * *

The room sat like a painting, still, beautiful, perfect in it's complicated simplicity despite the scattered clothes and the remains of the events that had taken place the previous night.

_"Life or death situation"_

Those words rang continuously through Abby's mind, causing her to stir under the covers. The Toilenator, Tommy, and Mushi, all their faces buzzed through her conscience guiltily. She began to mumble phrases in her sleep.

"Oi." A hand, soft, warm and scintillating ran over her, scattering the faces and breaking through the darkness of her mind. "Wake up Sheila." Wally continued.

Groggily she forced herself awake and yawned, stretching her arms wide, "Morning." She said coolly. Something about him being next to her made all the guilt from her past just wash away.

Wally stood up and stretched, "Morning, beautiful." He yawned back. A draft made him look down and realize that he had no clothes on. He quickly brought his hands down and smiled in a half embarrassed half apologetic way, "Sorry."

Abby scooted to the edge of the bed, wrapped the covers around her and proceeded to her dressers, "Don't be." She laughed, "You're clothes are…" she put an index finger over her chin, trying to remember where she through them, "Over there… no… over that way."

She felt Wally's soft hands begin to massage her shoulders, "We could always reenact the events… you know… find them the _systematic_ way." He whispered seductively in her ear.

"As great," she put an emphasis on the word great, "As that sounds, Wally, we… can't."

"What? Why?" he asked, in an all to surprised way. Abby turned around to face him, her expression unreadable. It could have best been described as angry, surprised, sad, and omg-did-you-seriously-just-say-that-you-sexy-fool.

"What do mean what and why?" she asked him, "For one thing, I can barely walk right now," she ignored the triumphant smile that went across Wally's face, "and have you forgotten about someone?" Wally merely tilted his head to the side, the same way a puppy does when it's done something bad but doesn't know it. "Kuki? Ring any bells?"

Wally's eyes shot wide open. Something he never thought would happen did. He had forgotten about Kuki, about everyone and everything. Abby could see that reality was slowly flooding back to him and turned back to her dresser. "Your clothes are over in that corner. You should leave before…"

"Hoagie comes." Wally finished her sentence in a low monotone.

Abby continued to shift through her drawers, trying hard not to think about Hoagie, the one man wrecking ball.

Wally hugged her from behind and kissed her on the cheek, "Abby. I want the truth right now." He told her in a protective voice. He ran his hand down her long slender arms and pulled her hand out of the drawer examining the mark on her wrist. "Does he…"

"ABBY!" three loud knocks on the door echoed through the room. Hoagie was there—the bad part was that Wally was there to, stark naked. "ABBY! Open the door!" he yelled.

They both looked at the door. Abby quickly gave Wally a kiss on the cheek, "Get your clothes." She told him. Wally quietly did so. "There's a vent in the bathroom, get in to it."

"Where does it go?" Wally frowned.

"ABBY!" another yelled permeated through the door.

Pushing Wally into the bathroom, Abby gave him a swift smack in the head, "I know it doesn't lead over there." She pointed to the door, "Now go!"

Wally opened the ventilation grate paused before going in, "If he touches you." His voice was hard, raspy and forceful.

"He's my boyfriend." Abby said darkly.

Wally frowned, looking directly into her eyes, "You deserve better." He lowered his face to hers and planted an ever so soft kiss upon her lips, "I would never…"

"You have Kuki." She said quickly, interrupting his sentence, "I won't take you from her, not after I've taken so much already." She choked back something in her throat and suppressed a small river of tears attempting to swell over the dam of her tear ducts.

Wally shook his head, he really couldn't believe she had just said that, "Abby…" he breathed.

She shook her head, "Later, you really need to go… like now! Meet me by the cave entrance… five o' clock." She said pushing him into the vent and closing it behind him. She watched as he went forward and then turned, out of sight now.

Another shriek from Hoagie reached her ears and she finally saw no point in pretending not to hear it anymore, "Yeah, yeah I'm comin' big boy." She called back.

Before going to the door she quickly slipped on a white wife beater and some navy blue shorts. Abby had to take several large breathes before putting her hand to the cold doorknob and turning it.

Hoagie stood there, menacing as always. The vein in his neck was visible, indicating that he had previously been furious with something or that he was getting furious… with her. He gave her a particular stare, accusing, glaring. He rudely stepped into her room.

Abby let him pass her by, the wind in his wake hitting her like a hot burst of air, "Anything I can help you with?" she asked him.

Hoagie continued to look about the room, "Nothing, baby, I just wanted to see you." He said happily, "I figured we could go for a walk."

Abby let out a small cough, "I'm not really feeling well, Hoagie. I really just want to rest in my room today." She said turning away from him.

Hoagie stopped looking over in a corner and turned to her, "Abby," he said, walking back over to her, "If this is about yesterday, I'm sorry. You know us." He said playfully.

Abby gave a fake laugh, "Yeah, us. What are we, Hoagie?"

His eyes went wide, "What are we?" he retorted stupidly, "We are soul mates, ever since we were younger. But sometimes we fight." He shrugged, "Like all couples."

Abby frowned, thankful that Hoagie could see the look on her face, "Couple fight, right."

"Yeah." Hoagie said shortly, "Couples fight."

"Do couples also have matching bruises?" Abby mumbled just loud enough for Hoagie to catch it. "Huh? Answer me?"

"What?" Hoagie looked taken aback, like he had no idea what she was talking about. "We don't have matching bruises, baby." He said, his outstretched hand going towards Abby. She quickly moved back.

"You're right. We don't have matching bruises because they're all on me!" she held up her discolored wrist.

Despite Abby trying to pull away, Hoagie grabbed her wrist but not in a violent way. He gingerly held it in his hands as though it was a wounded animal, "A small bruise," he said, staring straight at her, "You're comparing this bruise to what you've cost me!"

"Hoagie."

"No! You dare complain to me after what you did… after what you did to Tommy?" he yelled.

Abby recoiled. The nightmare of The Toilenator slowly began to return, "That wasn't my fault."

"The fuck it wasn't. You _knew_ that the Adults weren't going to be playing around that time and you chose to joke around!" he moved towards her. Thrusting his massive hands on either side of her face he pinned her to the wall.

Her nostrils flared. _I will not be blamed for that! I was just a kid and…_ she began arguing with herself inwardly.

"Nothing to say?" Hoagie spat. Abby said nothing, "Huh, you slut!"

A lion, that's what Abby saw Hoagie as in that moment. A hungry lion, one that was about eat her alive if she didn't think fast. She looked away from the fuming mess that was her beau and gave a deep sigh, "Baby, I'm sorry, I'm just… not feeling well." She said in a fake apologetic voice. "Can we get together for dinner later tonight?"

"Oh, so you're going to show up?"

"What?"

"Since you, Numbuh 4 and Numbuh 1 missed the ceremony, Sector H has graciously invited us to dinner." Hoagie pushed her aside, angrily turned the doorknob and flung open the door. Before leaving the room, he looked back at Abby and smiled, "Wear something sexy. I'll be expecting some dessert after dinner." And then left.

As though someone had finally lifted a large plastic bag off of her head, Abby took a deep breath and hugged herself tightly. After calming down for a bit she decided to go to the window, look at the scenery. Her straight path to the window was blemished, however, by a small, crystal clear rock on the floor. She tilted her head to one side and picked it up, examining it, "And where did you come from?" she asked the rock, fully knowing she'd get no answer.

Placing it softly on her wooden dresser she began to gaze out of the window, getting a picture perfect view of clear blue ocean, the white sands, Kuki and Wally, the hotdog stand…. "Kuki and Wally, hmm…" she mumbled to herself, "Dessert…"

She suddenly found herself scrounging through her suitcases for something small, slinky, tight and black. "Dessert has been served."

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"You're so silly!" Kuki squealed, applying a series of butterfly kisses on Wally's neck from behind. He laughed; she was hitting his ticklish spots, and readjusted her on his back.

"No I'm serious, if Nigel grew his hair out people would respect him way better. People respect people with hair." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. Wally's foot suddenly caught the edge of a conch and tumbled to the ground.

Kuki went flying, her long, raven black hair fanning behind her, "Ouch." She squeaked.

Wally lifted his head and shook all the sand out of his hair, "Sowpy."

"What?"

He open his mouth wide, allowing a river of sand to pour out, "I said, sorry." He laughed, rolling over to Kuki and running his hands through her hair. For a moment their eyes were locked. Each reflecting the other and then Kuki frowned, "Where were you this morning?" she asked him.

Wally looked around innocently, "Why, what ever do you mean my love?"

Kuki sat up on her elbows, "I mean, I went to your room hoping to have a jogging partner and no one answered."

"Oh!" Wally exclaimed, "I was in the shower… for a long time."

"Then how did you end up in the storage closet at the end of the hallway?"

"Sleep walking?"

"You just said you were in the shower."

Wally missed the days when Kuki would believe anything and not think twice about it, "Well you see… I… and then there was a hampster…"

Kuki's lips suddenly caressed his, shutting him up. She softly bit his bottom lip, something that drove him wild every time, and pulled away, "As long as you're there tonight so I can show you my new dress, I'll forgive you and that pathetic lie."

Wally laughed half-heartedly. He never really wanted to cheat on Kuki but nowhere in his entire being did he feel guilty, he didn't want to be forgiven for what he had done. His green eyes stayed on Kuki's almost black ones though, feeding her lies and security. "What's going on tonight, babe?" he asked her.

"Well," she paused so that she could position herself over Wally in a straddle, "Even though you, Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 5 missed the ceremony, Sector H has invited us to a very swanky dinner tonight."

Wally suddenly found himself looking beyond Kuki to the ocean behind her, "What time?"

"Mm, five thirty I think." She laughed, "Sector H insists on buying us something from every section on the menu."

Uh oh… Wally scooted from underneath Kuki and began shaking the sand off his shorts as he stood, "I'm going to go take a nap, I'll see you at dinner."

As he started off towards the hotel, Kuki latched on to him in a deadly vice grip, "Is something wrong Wally?" she asked him, "You've been acting a little weird and distant."

"No, no, nothing is wrong Kuki." He looked at her with sincerely lying eyes once again, "Just tired. I'll see you at dinner."

"Don't be late." She tugged at his arm,

Wally laughed, turned on his heels and kissed her sweetly on her cheek, "I won't be," she gave him an extremely skeptical look, "I promise." He emphasized. With another kiss on the cheek he was off for his room.

Kuki stared after him until he disappeared into a little dot. Annoyed she began sucking on the inside of her cheek and tapped her foot rhythmically in the sand, "I still want to know where you were this morning… and last night. No one makes a fool of Kuki Sanban." A sparkle in the distance caught her eye, "Oo, something shiny!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A dark ominous figure sat complacently upon a throne like chair. He resembled one large shadow as his body was pitch black and silhouetted by the red-orange flames beside him. A puff of smoke floated out of his pipe as he exhaled.

The room he sat in could only be described as elegantly evil. Adorning the floor was a beautifully embroidered circular rug. The curtains were deep scarlet velvet and very thick so the sun was kept out, along with TND spies trying watch him and his business. His chair was of a deep green color, like a well kept lawn and made from very expensive imported wood: along with all the other wooden objects in the room.

With his shadowed hand he removed his pipe, "Delightfuls!" he yelled, the fire place flickering as though it was scared of him.

Two large wooden doors opposite him flung open the light from the hallway illuminating a huddle mass of people walking towards him. It moved forward, doors closing behind them, "Yes, father?" it asked in five different voices.

"How have the tests for H-MONE 7 been going?" he asked without looking at them.

The Delightful girl with blond hair and a slender figure and the shorter, pudgy female delightful with large brown pigtails stepped forward. The dropped a large folder and a clipboard on the end table next to Father's chair and stepped back, "The tests have been successful, Father," they said in unison, "The stone in ready when the machine is."

Father's dark hand snatched the folder and clipboard, "Very good, very good." He chuckled a bit, "And the other projects?"

Lenny, the muscular boy with a football helmet and David, a tall, skinny boy standing beside him seemed to some to attention. They also pulled out a large folder and clipboard, stepped forward and put it on the end table, "Our research on the red and blue stones are coming along quite nicely, Father."

"Very good. At the remaining stones?" Father inquired, sifting through the new folder set before him, "Are you close to finding them?"

A shorter, blond boy stepped forward, his blue eyes reflecting the fire embers, " A fraction of the research team and Ninjas, lead by Cree Lincoln, have currently taken over Sector E over in Egypt in an attempt at finding whatever stone is over there." He said in a very business like tone.

"And the other bases?"

"We can only send so many researchers and ninjas out at one time, Father."

"Very well, keep running tests until I can finalize the machines."

The five huddled together once again and exited the room, leaving Father to his pipe and peace, "In due time TND, in due time."

He began a small chuckle but in only moment it turned into a horrible fit of maniacal laughter that brought the flames out of the fireplace and circling around him.

* * *

_So basically it feels kind of rushed at the end to me... how about you?_

_In any case, I hope you all liked the chapter! I'm going to start introducing more operatives and sectors now that some of the background has been revealed._

_Mmtays! Until next time!_

_TD16 luv ya'll!_


	6. Meanwhile

_RAWR! I know that chappie five has only been up for...a day but you guys were so fast at reviewing that I decided to type up this chapter and post it. ALL BECAUSE I LOVE YOU ALL!_

_Thanks to:_

-**Lilyfan123**

-**Numbeh 013**

-**Loser with a pen**

-**Evilevergreen**

-**xXHersheyKissesXx**

-**Nutso-bonzo7**

_Thanks for all your reviewing and love guys!...although I'm pretty sure that you're all girls... haha._

* * *

[TND MOONBASE

An overworked and rather agitated Numbuh 362 made her way through the crowded Moon Base corridors, Numbuhs 86 and 53, on assignment from his Guatemalan sector, on her tail. "Tell me again what this thing does." Numbuh 362 said to Franny, who had just previously given her all the information available on the mysterious green stone sent to them that very morning.

"Sir… maame you seem quite scatter brained this grand day, are you feeling okay?" asked Numbuh 86. Her red hair flowed freely around her shoulders as she dodged many oncoming operatives. The heavy Irish accent from her younger days seemed to be fading but she was still hard to understand sometimes.

"Yes, yes, Franny, I'm fine. Tell me about the stone again." Numbuh 362 told her while pushing through a large crowd of trainees.

With a sigh, Numbuh 86 began again, "The stone sent to us this morning from Numbuh 5 of Sector V seems to be able to… to…"

"Spit it out!"  
"Stir up your hormones and then take away all inhibitions… in short, it makes you so horny that you have to get some or you'll go crazy."

Rachel began rubbing her chin thoughtfully, "So what are we talking here, super Viagra?" she asked, ignoring the laughter coming from the younger operatives around her.

"In essence, yes."

The three of them entered a large TND elevator. The elevator Operative quickly recognized Rachel as the leader of TND and didn't bother asking what floor she wanted to go to.

The agent from Sector U bounced up and down on his toes a bit and for the first time since arriving at Moon Base he spoke, "So what is research developing to block the rays?" he asked. Franny and Rachel were shocked that he did have an accent, "What? I only moved to Guatemala 3 years ago… before that I lived in Brooklyn."

Numbuh 86 gave him and awkward stare before answering his question, "Research and Development hasn't put any thought into a blocking system…" she caught the glare coming from Rachel and thought of something to save her skin, "As of now we stuck in testing and research. Any attempts on trying to block the effects may prove useless unless we know everything about the stone and what it does."

The elevator door opened and the three filed out. They were in a large circular room with ceiling-to-floor windows opposite them. A rather large desk sat in the center of the room with two cushiony chairs on one side and large throne-like one on the other that reeked of regality. Sewn into the carpet was a giant 362 and on the walls were pictures of past KND and TND presidents. Rachel had two pictures up, one from her childhood days as head of KND and one taken of her recently as head of TND.

Numbuh 362 took her seat in the throne-like chair and motioned for Franny and the Guatemalan operative to sit down. She turned around in her chair so that she could stare out of the window at the wonderful view of Earth, "Did Numbuh 5 happen to say where she found the stone?"

A few seconds of rustling paper and Franny clicking her tongue in frustration gave Rachel her answer. She turned back around in her chair, laid her elbows on the table and then pressed the tips of her fingers together, "I want Numbuh 5 up here in the morning, first thing." She said, her eye brow beginning to twitch with frustration.

Franny frowned, "You can't possibly think she has anything to do with the stone. It's more likely that one of those disgusting boys had…" Numbuh 362 cut her off by raising her hand.

"Of course I don't think Abigail has anything to do with the stone but as of now she's the only other person to have come into contact with the stone." She said.

"Right then," Franny nodded, "I'll send her summons after Sector H's honorary dinner."

"Very good."

Franny gave a small bow and then turned on heel back to the elevator. She stepped in, told the elevator operative to take her to the monitoring room and disappeared behind closed elevator doors.

Rachel leaned back in her chair, one foot on the floor and the other rocking her back and fourth by bouncing on the desk. She stared at the Guatemalan operative for a second and then began scrolling through something on her computer, "So you're from Sector U, correct?" she asked him, reading from his stat page.

"That is correct." He agreed.

"And you name is Amado Alejandro Andres Angel Amparo?" she finished by taking a deep breath.

"Yes."

"That's quite a mouth full."

"And so am I." he said with a smirk.

His response took her off guard. She really hadn't looked at the man in front of her when she first met him. He was tall, his skin the color a sandy shore and he had the prettiest green eyes she had ever seen. She smirked in return, "Age?"

"I'll be twenty in a few months."

She nodded and the looked back and forth from her computer to him for a brief second before pushing her keyboard aside and kicking up her feet again, "And why are you here Amado… Alejandro… Andres… Angel Amparo?"

"Well I've been in the TND since it was KND and I think it's time that TND headquarters allow me to take on bigger and better jobs."

Rachel tilted her head upwards, "And you are not happy with field work?"

Amado stood up and began pacing the floor, "I love Sector U, really I do. But I'm one of the top agents in this organization and frankly I'm not getting any younger."

Rachel began typing on her computer again, "I see that you have one failed mission here, care to explain."

Amado stopped pacing and looked at her, "Did you also see the date?"

Rachel looked closely at the screen and then nodded in understanding, "A-Day. The day the adults attacked." She turned around in her chair again, "Alright Alejandro,"

"Amado."

"Andres. I'm going to put on trail as a research operative because quite frankly your stats are rival to that of Numbuh 1 in perspective. Are you okay with that?"

His beautiful angelic face suddenly appeared in front of hers, causing Rachel to jump a bit in her seat, "_Cristal_." He said in a heartwarming Spanish accent.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"MOVE THOSE BLOCKS!" said a voice more menacing than the whip it's owner wielded. Cree Lincoln, twenty-one, once the KND's best operative, older sister to Abigail Lincoln, past crush of Hoagie Gilligan, and forever threat to the TND, hovered over the TND operatives of Egyptian TND Main Base sector E, ordering them all by the crack of her whip.

Her black and red Battle Ready Armor glinted in the hot desert sun, yet she did not break a sweat. "Move it you weaklings!" she yelled again.

Her hover board on board screen lit up and a face appeared, "Commander Cree." Said the boy on the other side. He was skinny and looked malnourish with his brown hair all-askew.

"Yes, Cadet?" she responded, still cracking her whip over operative heads.

"Commander Chad requests your presence in his office." The boy said, coming to a salute, "We'll send a relief for you shortly."

"Aww, but I'm having so much fun out here."

"Commander Chad's orders." The boy finished. The screen went blank and Cree cracked the whip yet again… might as well get her kicks in.

The ninjas and Father's research team had taken over all the Egyptian bases two weeks prior to the TND honorary meeting in Hawaii. In passing years they became evilly clever. In essence the way they've been keeping TND from noticing was simple. They build life size robots of a few operatives with the simple function of answering calls and denying all meetings when possible. It was all Cree's idea and she took great pride in the fact that it was simple, didn't cost much and was working.

Her relief came shortly after the call, his hover-board coming up next to hers. She nodded and handed over her precious whip to him and flew off to where Commander Chad had made his office.

Chad stayed inside one of the TND Egypt Bases, turning one of the operative's rooms into his own. He took out the Egyptian furniture and the expensive artwork and put up posters of bands, a large bed that turned into his desk, flat screen T.V… anything a teenage boy could want. Cree knocked on his doorand read the sign on the outside, "Commander Chad." And below it in small letter was, "is a badass." She chuckled.

"Come in." came a voice from inside.

"You wanted to see me?" Cree asked in a authoritative voice, her B.R.A powering down and revealing the clothes underneath. She wore tight leather pants and leather halter that seemed to amplify her cleavage and curves. Her criss-cross belt clinked into position as to gun holsters came into view. On her thighs were two more holsters that held knives. She tucked the many braids that spilled into her face behind her ears, cracked her neck and sighed, "Commander Chad."

Chad, now twenty-one, resembled an underwear model from the way he was built. He never tried to hide it, he was proud of the way he looked. He sat at his desk, shirtless, the sweat running all over his body… they were in the desert after all. His blond hair stuck to his face. He looked up at Cree with his steel blue eyes, stood up and walked towards her, "Commander Cree." He did a small bow. Circling behind her he closed the door, locking it so that no one could come in. "'Bout time you got here." He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into him.

She giggled, "I hope you know I was having fun out there."

"More fun than you can have in here with me?" he asked her, his hot breath rolling down her neck and causing her to moan.

"Maybe… what do you have to offer?"

Chad took her slender hand and placed it where his growing excitement was shown. He moved it up and down, allowing her to feel just how much he wanted her there with him in that moment. Cree moaned let out a cat-like sound and he knew that she wanted him to.

"As fun as your offer is, its broad daylight and someone could walk in." she said moving away from him.

"The danger makes it all the better. Remember Morocco and the public bathroom stall." He asked her in a very sexy tone. "And that time you 'had to step out of a meeting for some fresh air' and I suddenly 'became ill', remember how good it felt?"

Cree laughed, "When you lump all the times together, we get pretty kinky."

"And I make you scream my name every time," Chad said with a little to much pride. He grabbed her hand and pushed one o the buttons on the wall causing the desk to turn into a bed, a very large bed. "Come on, you know you want to." He pulled her onto the bed with him.

Chad positioned himself on top of her, so that there was no chance of her trying to get away and because he liked being in control. He kissed her, snaking his hands behind her neck as to undo her leather halter top. Just as he got the clasp undone and the heat of the moment was rising a knock at the ruined everything.

Chad let out a loud growl, "WHAT?!"

"Sir, the bots created in the likeness of the Egyptian operatives are beginning to malfunction. If we don't fix them soon the TND will be up our asses so fast we won't know what hit us." The cadet yelled from behind the door.

Chad growled again and then looked down at Cree who looked equally disappointed and then back at the door, "Can it wait a few minutes to an hour?"

"Sir, we really need you now."

Cree slid from underneath Chad and pressed the button that turned the bed back into a desk, causing Chad to jump off. He quickly slid on a shirt and went next to her, "Later then." He kissed her passionately, hands running through the many braids of her hair and the flung the door open.

The Cadet on the outside saluted, "Commander Chad." He suddenly realized who was standing behind him, "And Commander Cree?"

Chad gave Cree another peck on the cheek before acknowledging the cadet, "Cadet, you will forget everything that you saw one minute prior starting…now."

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Now take me to the malfunctioning robots." He ordered. The Cadet turned in an army like fashion and marched off down the hallway.

Cree raised an eyebrow and leaned on the doorframe, "Damn he's a good kisser." She brought two fingers up to her lips and smiled, "_Damn_ good kisser."

OOooOOoo

Steel, chrome, rod iron, not exactly Happy-Fun-Land but it was very useful for being a lab. The walls were lined in circuitry all to complex for most to understand. Large screens and computer panels were compliment by the many flips and switches surrounding them.

In a frantic panic an army of people in long white lab coats mobbed Chad, "The malfunction is worsening!" one of them said, grabbing Chad by the arm and dragging him over to one of the many glass windows, "The computer interception is still working but the bots are… well you see for yourself."

Chad peered through the window and frowned, "What the hell?" he asked, staring at the tango dancing robots, "How did this happen?"

"I—I don't know sir." Said the scientist, his glasses fogging up.

"You don't know?!" Chad yelled, taking the man's clipboard and breaking it in half, "Who's in charge of robotics around here?"

"Mau- Maurice, Commander."

Chad's face began to constrict into a deadly glare. His right temple began pulsating as the color of his face went from summer tan to a rouge red. "Bring him here." He ordered through clenched teeth, "NOW!"

The scientist jumped so hard and so suddenly that he gave himself a leg cramp. He frantically straightened his glasses, "Y- yes sir, Mr. Commander Chad, sir!" he ran off in a hurried dash.

Chad had never like Maurice, not ever. There was a point in time where he could stand him but not anymore. He never liked the way the girls swooned over his dreadlocks.—especially when Cree would go on and on about them. He never liked the way he seemed to be perfect and right about everything. He really never liked the way he out benched him every time he was at the gym. But above all else he never liked the way all problems led back to Maurice, but there was never any way to pin him to anything.

A few minutes later the small, meek man emerged in the doorway followed by Maurice. His dreads were pulled back by an elastic band and his glasses sat low on the bridge of his nose, apparently he was working on some other project before hand. He stopped shot of running into Chad and smiled, "Commander Chad? What a pleasant surprise." He said in a cool, deep voice.

Chad cringed as the female scientists around him began to giggle and whisper. Regaining composure he straightened up, "You mind explaining what the hell happened to the robots."

Maurice laughed, "Let me guess, you're about to go on another 'Maurice done-did-it' rampage." He said, "Every time you try and pin me, you fail."

The slow, cool breeze that was Maurice was stoking the fire within Chad exponentially. He stepped closer to Maurice, both of them standing at the same height, until they were nose to nose, "I don't know what you did or how you did it but you best be sure to fix it." He told him.

Maurice smiled despite Chad's attempts to shake him and cleared his throat, "I'll do what I can but I make no promises." He said shortly before turning to the other scientists within the room, "Charts, bring me charts." He beckoned.

Chad glared at his foe in pure unbridled anger as he walked away. After once again having to regain his composure he took a deep breath and then strutted out of the lab.

"If that bastard thinks he's getting away with… whatever it is he thinks he is getting away with then he's got another thing coming." Chad said to himself.

* * *

_YES! MORE CHARACTERS!!! I'm still debating over wheather I want to have some more Cree and Chad stuff. It couldn't hurt... if you don't count my fingers. Of course I WOULD like to go into the Maurice thing... and the Andres...Ampro... Alejandro... that Guatemalan opertive thing..._

_I guess this story is just going to be a bit longer than expected...hmmm._

_Read and Review as always dudes and dudettes. Hehe._

_TD16_

_Now for some shameless advertising! On my profile page there are two plot bunnies that **COULD** become stories. All you guys have to do vote on which one you want by sending me a PM or just by saying it in a review. Kthanx and luv!_


	7. Oh my gosh

So basically... I've ben away for a while. But I'm back! Unfourtunately this chapter is not up to Topdog standards. I advise that you read it so you know whats going on... just don't expect the usual Topdog flow to be coming from it.

sad indeed.

* * *

An absolutely perfect evening breeze brushed over Wally's face as he sat on large stone just outside the cave entrance he had agreed to meet Abby at. His white dress shirt and tuxedo jacket hung open, flapping in the wind. He pulled at his untied tie and threw it at the ground in a silent protest. _What am I doing here? _He asked himself, remembering who his girlfriend was.

Another breeze brought his attention to the small waves crashing upon the rocks by his feet. _I'm happy with Kuki, I'm happy with Kuki, I'm happy with Abby… Kuki!_ He slapped himself in the face—hard.

"Well that's not normal." Said the voice he had been waiting to hear since the early morning. Abby wore a floor length dark blue gown, her hair tied up and adorned with little red flowers and around her neck hung a beautiful crystal hooked onto a silver chain.

"Have I ever been normal?" he replied coolly. He stood up and ran over to Abby, grabbed both her hands in his and looked her straight in the eye, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She laughed, "Told that lard that I wasn't feeling well and he left soon after you did." She smiled at him and led him back the rock he previously sat at. After he sat down she sat in his lap, fiddling with her necklace, "We need to talk."

"Oh, no. Nothing good ever comes after those words." Wally said in an accusing voice.

Abby laughed, "Look, Wally. Last night was… I don't know but I'm still having trouble walking straight." Once again she ignored the triumphant smile that went across Wally's face, "But we can't go there again."

The smile faded from Wally's face and was replaced by a serious expression, "I know. You have… Hoagie and Kuki would never forgive me if she found out."

"It was fun while it lasted though… real fun… and messy. We're still vid-game buddies though, right?" Abby laughed. "Come on, we can't be late for that dinner thing." She bundled up her dress and extended a hand towards Wally.

He hesitated before taking it but took it nevertheless and together they headed towards the Restaurant. "Where'd you get that necklace, it suits you."

"I found the gem on my floor this morning and then made it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The members of Sector H stood and bowed the members of Sector V as the filed into the seats around a large circular table. "Welcome, welcome!" said the leader of the team.

His name Benny Schwartz, codename: Numbuh 45. Being the one who initially proposed the creation of Sector H, he was made leader of the team and is known for his tactical genius. Being from an all-military background he was graciously given the title of Commander 45.

To Benny's left sat His second in command and fan of Numbuh 2 is known as Catherine "Crash" Landings, Numbuh 96. She takes care of all aerial vehicles and weaponry in their sector and helped build the Sector H tree house. She's a fiery red head from the south that never takes off her fighter pilot goggles that were given to her by her great grandpa.

To her left sat Maxine Beats, Numbuh 77. Originally the TND Party Specialist, she left her job as a DJ in the club to do field work after Yolanda asked her to be part of the team. She specialized in hand-to-hand combat, as she is a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Nevertheless she keeps her sector fun by throwing parties when she can.

As mentioned earlier, Yolanda "Yo mamma" Suarez, Numbuh 78. She, like Maxine is a party girl. She loves fashion, designed and made all her own clothes. Her snappy comebacks and hot-headedness make her a loathsome foe when in combat; she is actually known for talking a villain into defeat. She's not just a fashion junkie, she is also lovely constructionist. Her designs for weapons and strongholds are used in almost every TND major base.

And the final Sector H Operative to be greeted was Leo Keplar, Numbuh 14. Best described as… a chicken but his wimpyness is surpassed greatly by his rather large brain and problem solving ability.

By the time introductions were made and everyone had a chance to talk about themselves and what they're good at, the first course was being served to the teens. And to everyone's surprise, including Nigel's, Lizzie made a glamorous appearance.

"So I tells the guy, I says 'Yo mamma is like a doorknob, EVERYBODY gets a turn!'" Yolanda said, finish up her hilarious story and sending everyone into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Benny nearly sprayed cold water from his nose but began chocking it down instead. Across from him, he noticed the googly eyes being made between the members of Sector V—and Lizzie. He cleared his throat to signify that he was about to ask something completely awkward. "So, Nigel," he began, laying an arm on the table, "Inner-sector relationships. Obviously you have no problem with them."

Nigel looked taken aback. He had never really thought that much about the relationships his teammates seemed to have formed. "No, really they do not bother me." He said shaking his head a bit.

"You see, Maxine? Inner squad relations are not bad." Benny whispered into Maxine's ear just loud enough for the rest of the table to hear it. Maxine blushed a violent red through her naturally dark tan complexion and attempted to hide her face behind her abundance of braids. Once again the table erupted into laughter.

"So Numbuh 2," Catherine began, "I saw that motorcycle you flew in on and was wondering… if maybe you could take me to see it."

A genuine sense of gratitude seemed to flow over Hoagie in that moment and he smiled, "Yeah sure."

Catherine suddenly became all a-twitter. "Great! Let's go!" she grabbed him by the hand and leapt out of her seat, dragging Hoagie with her.

"Wait… I didn't mean now!" he yelled attempting to get back to his steak.

"To bad I did, big boy" With a final yodel, Catherine and Hoagie had disappeared from the restaurant.

For a good five minutes the table sat in silence until the sound of Wally chewing on the T of his T-bone steak broke through. "Do you have to do that so loud?" Kuki asked in an annoyed tone.

Wally looked at her strangely, as the she was the one with a bone hanging out of her mouth like a dog, "Well… duh."

Benny laughed and then turned his attention to his watch, "Sorry Sector V, but we've got to go." He said, motioning for everyone sitting to stand up, "We're leaving tonight so we don't hit air traffic tomorrow."

Nigel straightened his glasses and stood up, extending his hand, "Smart idea. It was a pleasure to have dinner with you and your team."

: Likewise." Benny did a small bow has he gripped Nigel's hand. In typical male fashion they gave each other a small squeeze every shake until finally letting go.

Benny laid down the money to pay for dinner and they all left, still laughing about the night's events.

Just as a cool sea breeze hit their faces Abby was pulled away, "Numbuh 5 of Sector V?" the person asked Abby.

"Yeah, that would be me."

Her response was having a envelope trusted into her arms, "Numbuh 362, head of the TND would like to see you at Moon base first thing in the morning." He said militaristically and then walked off.

The people behind her stared blankly, "Ooooooo you in trouble." Maxine said in a childish way.

The fact of the matter was that Abby actually thought she was in trouble… really big trouble. She swallowed hard and then turned to the group, "Uh, Numbuh 1, I'll pack up tonight and get back to the tree house so I can take the shuttle up to Moon Base tomorrow morning."

"Fair enough." Nigel inclined his head, "I guess that means Numbuh 4 will be going to?"

Upon hearing his name Wally perked up, "What? Why?"

"Yeah, what, why?" Kuki repeated.

"Well, everybody else's vehicles only carry one person and I'm taking Lizzie back. Therefore he'd have no way back if he stayed."

No one could really argue with Nigel's logic so Wally just slowly moved away from Kuki and stood next to Abby, "I'll see you tomorrow babe." He said to her, "Come on Abby lets go."

Before she had time to say goodbye to everyone, she found herself dragged off towards the hotel by her elbow, stumbling over her dress.

Being alone, yet again was not something either Wally or Abby wanted considering what happened last time they were alone. The whole way to the hotel they barely spoke let alone looked at each other. When arriving at the hotel Abby merely gave him instructions to pack his stuff, turn in his keys and then meet her at the BBA parking space.

OoooOOooOOoo

About an hour later they met in the airfield. Wally wobbled up with large suitcase and Abby stood there, tapping her foot in annoyance. Wally cringed, "What?" he asked.

"An hour," Abby said shortly, "It took you a full hour to pack your stuff and get out here. WHAT in heavens name were you doing?"

Wally gave her a seductive smile, "Really want to know?"

Abby rolled her eyes and then pushed the unlock button on her key chain. Boop, boop, the BBA's hatch bay doors opened, small stairs extending from the threshold, and they both entered the ship.

Automatically, the lights turned on. Switches and buttons began flashing and the cool computer voice they had all grown to love spoke to them, "Bomb-bomb Assaulter online." It said.

Abby took a seat in the fuzzy, comfy blue chair and began typing on the control panel, "Destination?" the computer voice acquired.

"Sector V." she said. Wally took note of the subtle gloominess in her voice.

With that the ship started up, engine revving, "Enable auto pilot?"

"Yes."

"Arrival time in two hours and fifty-three seconds. Enjoy your flight." The cool computer voice said. The ship slowly lifted into the air and then with a jolt, jetted off towards sector V.

Unlike last time, Abby sat in her chair, not really doing anything. She was attempting to keep her distance from Wally so that nothing else would happen between them. An unnerving silence took over the hull. Between the chatter of Abby's fingers on the keyboard and the sound of T.V channels there was nothing but deafening silence.

Wally cleared his throat in attempt to start a conversation but Abby remained silent, still typing away at the control panel. In a flurry of frustration he grunted, stood up angrily and stomped over to where she sat, "This is ridiculous! You can't just not talk to me." He yelled.

She didn't turn towards him, causing his anger to flourish, "Okay, what is so important that you have to pay so much attention to it?" he peered over her shoulder. Hs face seemed to drop in disappointment, "Solitaire… that's what you've been doing this whole time?"

"Yup." Abby said shortly.

Wally reached over her, a waft of his cologne filling her nostrils, and turned off the monitor. Abby immediately rose out of the blue fuzzy chair, "What the hell! I was so close!" she yelled at him, though she was not angry.

Wally merely stared at her, as though he was searching for something in her eyes and then gave a sigh because he obviously could not find whatever it was. After looking at her one more time he decided to just give up and sit back on the couch, they'd be arriving at the base shortly anyways and he could sit in his postered room in silence.

Behind him, Abby stared at his back until he jumped and landed on the couch with a thud. Biting the inside of her cheek she turned back to the computer and turned it on, resuming her game of solitaire.

XXXXX Back in the Tree House XXXXXXXXX

After docking the BBA, checking the security grid and getting themselves a snack, Abby and Wally parted their ways and went to their separate, yet close, rooms.

Wally, in pure exhaustion, crashed into his large a cushiony bed, allowing the covers to become askew. He smothered his face joyfully with his Ninja Turtles pillows and took deep, hollow breathes.

Finally he could be alone and think about what happened, what was happening and what will be happening in the near future.

_Kuki, I love you but… I don't know what to do. These feelings, these craving I've only felt them for you before_. He said to himself. _Abby, you excite me. You make me feel fresh and alive. I want you but most of all I want you to want me to._

He rolled over onto his back, _I hate myself._

The abrupt blasting of his door off it's hinges caused him to bolt upright in his bed, "What the Fu… Abby?"

Abby's silhouette was outlined all to well by the light filtering in from the hallway. She wasn't wearing anything… except for the shining green stone dangling from her neck.

Wally sat there mesmerized for a moment before realizing what it was, "Fuck! It's the stone." He patted his pockets in hopes that he wasn't stupid enough to drop it in the room. No such luck. "Abby, I'm sorry."

"Shh, don't speak," she yelled across the room, "I'm about to rock your world."

She pounced, landing on her prey.

Wally attempted to resist the stone's power, truly he did, but sooner rather than later he found himself giving in. It was too much. She was too much.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning came all to fast… and so did the rest of the team.

Wally was awakened rudely to the sound of the hatch bay doors opening up two levels below him. He attempted to sit upright but something held him down, Abby, he thought to himself as a smile crept over his face.

"WALLY!" Kuki's voice suddenly traveled into his ears.

Kuki! His happy expression dropped. He began to panic. With one hand he pushed the button on his nightstand that locked his room doors and with the other he shook Abby, "Wake up! Abby, wake up!"

"Huh? What?" she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She looked around, "This isn't my room," and then she came to Wally, "Wally… what the hell is going on here?"

Her expression spoke of only confusion and a slight bit of frustration. She ran her slender fingers through her hair and tried to piece things together, "I remember coming back to the tree house and then going to my room – and then my necklace…" Wally had scooted away from her before she had arrived to the conclusion, "The necklace!" she screamed.

Wally held his hands up defensively, "Look, I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"You took a piece of the stone after I SPECIFICALLY told you not to!" she had her pointer finger erect and in his face, her long nail threatening to skewer his nose. The sound on of voices seemed to be settling downstairs into a low murmur. Abby ran over to Wally's drawers and began pulling out articles of clothing.

"What are you doing?" Wally inquired as he dodged the incoming pairs of jeans.

"I can't leave your room naked, now can I?" Abby replied. She suddenly stopped flinging pants across the room and decided to just put a pair on, "I swear, Wally, all your pants look the same." She sighed.

He shrugged, "I buy them wholesale, cheaper."

She looked at him like he was speaking German or something, "Wholesale…ew." She was disgusted by the word, being someone who recently found the joys of designer handbags and pants specially made with her emblem on them, "Where are your shirts?"

Wally pointed at his closet, "But I must warn you, it's not much better."

She raised a dark eyebrow in disbelief, "Nothing can be worse than having forty-six pairs of the same…" she opened the closet and felt her jaw drop a few inches, "I stand corrected. Having forty-six pairs of the same orange sweater is just as bad."

"Hey! Some of those are sleeveless and others are V-neck." Wally said defensively.

Abby pulled out a sleeveless orange sweater and slipped in on, shaking her head at the same time—orange wasn't really her color but she found herself starting to like it. A moment after putting it on she began to notice that Wally must have sprayed it was axe. Oh, how she loved the smell of it.

"Abby," Wally broke through her moment of inhalation, "What are we going to tell everybody."

"Dress up party?" she said absentmindedly. After Wally gave her the are-you-stupid look she recoiled, "Kuki would believe it." She shrugged.

"And what about your precious Hoagie?" Wally said, "I bet his fists would have something to say about it later."

Abby turned to face him, anger in her eyes, "Go to hell." She said shortly.

As the air tensed around them and silence settled, Abby closed the closet slowly. She had her back to him, after that remark she didn't want him to see the tears welling up in her eyes. She heard his footsteps coming toward her and flinched, "Don't." she said sternly.

He didn't stop, however, but kept going. "Abby," he touched her shoulder only to have it shrugged off, "I crossed a line. I'm sorry."

She could tell, in his subtle way, that he was begging for her forgiveness. Nevertheless she kept her back to him, "It wasn't my fault you know. The adults just weren't playing around that time. None of us were prepared for what—"

"Abby!" Wally said her name so aggressively that it made her jump, "We all know it wasn't your fault. Why are you blaming yourself?"

"I just… maybe if I was a little," she was cut off by the only sound that could shut her up—Hoagie. To matters worse she could hear the

Distinctively perky tone of Kuki's voice following after Hoagies booming one. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Fuck." Wally jumped and ran over to the door, locking it, "Abby, a miracle if you will." He turned to her.

She tied her long black hair back into a ponytail and dove for Wally's bed. She began ripping the covers and sheets off like a wild animal. Wally stood there perplexed, "This isn't the time for that!" he yelled at her, getting hit with his spaceship sheets in the process.

"No you one-track-minded perv," she hopped off the bed and then turned it over, "In case of emergencies, each room had a panic button."

"I know that but won't it shut everyone inside the tree house. We want them out." He ran over and stopped her from lifting up his nightstand, "New Plan?"

Abby let go of the table.

There wasn't really anything they could do. They could find the panic button but then everyone would be locked in the tower where they currently were. Meaning that Hoagie and Kuki would be trapped in the hallway they were in and Abby and Wally would be in the room. Or they could leave the room. However, Abby was still in Wally's clothing and there wasn't an excuse in the world liable enough to explain why that was.

And then a miracle happened. The Adult Alarm went off.

"Team! Move out!" Nigel's voice could be heard echoing over the loud ringing of the alarm.

Abby and Wally sighed.

"Run to your room, get dressed. I'll stall the team." Wally said before kissing her on the forehead and running out of the room.

* * *

I don't know why writting this was so hard. Really. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

But there was important into in it. I PROMIS the next chapter will blow your socks off. Don't burn me ::wimper::


	8. Emeralds against Sapphires

"_Ooooo Topdog! You said you would update more often!!!"_

_Yes I know darlings and I'm sooo sorry. Things got pretty hectic over here and This has been the first time I've been able to get back to writing in a WHILE! I hope you guys like this chappie. Eat it up. _

_Then,_

_Shake it like a polaroid picture. Hey ya!_

* * *

Abby did as she was instructed. With that kiss from Wally, that reassurance that someone in the world still wanted her, she parted ways with her secrete beau and ran to her room as he ran for the elevator. It wasn't a long run, her room was merely around the corner, but she felt out of breath as she burst through her wildly embellished door and into her cool room.

She quickly ripped the sleeveless orange sweater off of her body and through it into her wastebasket. No one would find it if the house threw it out first. She then ripped off Wally's pants. Before throwing them away to join the sweater she held onto them, not wanting to let them. She fondled the rough fabric with admiration. How could she keep up feeling this way for him when there was so much going on? What would Hoagie or Kuki for that matter do to her when they found out?

She stumbled over to her closet and flung open the rounded double doors. The racks we constantly rotating so she picked out the first things she could find; a skin tight blue under armour, a pair of baggy black jeans and her favorite pair of white sneakers. With that she tossed Wally's pair of pants into the wastebasket.

Even with her own clothes on now, she felt naked, like she had put herself into a vulnerable position and couldn't get out of it. Hoagie—what did she see in him, she wondered. She had been wondering for years but after she and Wally had… been spending more time together she couldn't help but wonder more and more. Wally was gentle with her. With one glance from his emerald green eyes she felt a fire swell inside her that Hoagie's steely blue eyes could never duplicate. Wally's touch was like the sun on her skin, warm and tingly. His smile made her smile.

Abby came to a decision in the moment, she was going to end things with Hoagie. She would take whatever beating he would give her and smile with every crushing blow. She would laugh with he yelled obscene words at her and her worthless. And when it was all over, she would get up and kick him, hard, in the groin and laugh harder as his voice went backwards through puberty and then some.

Yes. That is what she would do.

Then she would tell Kuki everything. About how she was sorry that she was sleeping with her boyfriend but that it was not in vain. Abby loved Kuki like a sister—well one who didn't work for the enemy—and would never intentionally hurt her but… she loved Wally. Yes, she was in love with Wally. And she was going to tell everyone that she was. Afterwards she would drag Wally off somewhere and they would make sweet passionate love to each other.

The plan was made.

Abby smiled and put a hand on her door, _That's exactly what will happen_. And then she left, sprinting for the elevator to make up for lost time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone was waiting in the lobby by the time Abby got there. Numbuhs one, two and three were all gawking at her awkwardly as she stepped through the elevator doors and towards them all. The alarm had stopped and Numbuh One sighed, "Were you sleeping or something?" he asked.

Abby shrugged, "Or something." She took a seat on the large circular sofa and pulled a can of fizzy pop out from the built in refrigerator desk, "What happened to the alarm?" she asked coolly.

Nigel groaned and shook his head a bit, turning to the monitor, "Sector H strikes." He said as the live feed from a banks security camera showed Sector H agents fighting The Accountants, a group of renegade accountants who instead of managing their clients money, steals it. They were working efficiently, almost poetically as they rounded all of the criminals up. "Look up to us my ass. They're trying to put us out of business."

Wally took a seat, unintentionally close, next to Abby. He only realized once his arm graced hers and they both gave a shiver, not daring to look at each other, "What are they doing in our sector anyways?" he asked, also getting a can of fizzy pop.

"Their base used to be out in Ohio but because of their admiration for us, they moved it approximately…" Numbuh One paused for a brief moment and rubbed his temples, "Two hundred miles away."

His fellow teammates all gaffed at his words, "Are you serious?" Kuki screamed in a way that made her sound insulted, "They can't just up and move… can they?"

"Moon Base says it's fine as long as they can still protect their previous sector."

Kuki scoffed. Abby was soon to follow, "So basically they're trying to our jobs and theirs. Stupid." She took a sip of her fizzy pop.

Wally nodded in agreement.

Hoagie looked at the three of them on the couch, Kuki, Wally and Abby. All of them sitting in secession, only two were a couple yet he could feel some form of unwanted heat radiating off of them. He noticed the way Wally sat first. Kuki had her entire body thrown against him, as she usually did, but he wasn't throwing his body back. He may have had one arm around Kuki's slim body but Hoagie was looking at the opposite side, the side with Abby on it. His leg was right next to hers, their knees touching a bit and his hand was right next to her thigh. It never moved. Wally was using the hand near Kuki to do everything; grab his soda, scratch his nose, touch Kuki. He had two hands, why was he only using one, Hoagie dared ask himself. There was one thing he knew for certain, whatever was between them, was ending. He would not loose Abby to _him_.

They had always been close friends, Abby and Wally, but once he and Abby got together and Wally and Kuki became an item their socializing was strictly platonic. But he was noticing an increase in Wally-Abby time and did not like it.

The team sat there watching the surveillance tapes from the bank until Sector H managed to get all the Accountants and haul them off. Nigel gratefully shut off the monitor and plopped back down on the couch, sighing heavily. Abby and Wally finished their pop and placed the can in the recycling bin in the center of the table.

"Well that was depressing," Kuki began. She then looked a Wally and something changed in her eyes, "I'm going to go take a nap. Walk me to my room, baby." She told him, dragging him up by his hands.

He thought about protesting, he'd much rather be walking Abby to her room, but went anyways. As he got up he "accidentally" ran his hand down her thigh. He gave her a small smile and wink before being jerked into the elevator with Kuki.

Abby had noticed, and smiled while biting her bottom lip. Was that a sign of him choosing her over Kuki? Could it be that he was going through the same dilemma as she was, feeling the exact same way?

Nigel left shortly after, something about meeting Lizzie and taking her shopping for a new fall wardrobe.

Hoagie suddenly plopped down next to her, snapping her out of her thoughts and wrapped her up in his massive biceps. With his fingers he gently rubbed the length of her arms, "Let me take you out tonight." He coaxed her.

Abby looked up at him with her big brown eyes wide and then immediately looked back down as if to protest. Hoagie sighed, "Look, babe, I know things have been a little rocky for us and I realized that maybe I have an anger problem."

Abby suddenly stood up, a frown covering her entire face, "Maybe?" she yelled rather than asked. Hoagie didn't flinch though.

"Baby, I'm trying to tell you that I'm going to try and get better. It's just that… It's been over five years and Tommy is still going in and out of surgeries. It is just hard for me to handle." He said softly, draping one arm over the top of the couch and patting the cushion below it with his other hand.

Abby did not head his calling. She looked at the spot on the couch where his hand had touched it and looked at it as though it were contaminated. Folding her arms and shifting her weight to one side she scoffed, loudly, "Hard for you to handle?" she repeated, "It's hard for everyone here to handle. If you hadn't noticed, Mushi has been in the hospital just as long as Tommy has." She told him.

Hoagie shook his head, "I know, I know. And those bruises," he paused and looked at his girlfriend, his love, his property in his mind's eye, "Shouldn't of happened."

Abby gave him a fake smile, "Gee, ya think?"

Hoagie stood up, his size itself threatening. He saw that his sudden rising was freaking Abby out and put his hands out in front of him, "Relax." He said calmly for someone who beat his girlfriend, "I trying to tell you that I'm changing for the better."

"Changing and changed are two different things, Hoagie." Abby said, turning away from him. Now was her chance. Her chance to do what she had planned while getting dressed earlier. All she had to do was turn around and tell him straight to his face that she was done. Done with his bull and the abuse. She didn't need him to be happy, she never did. She would tell him that there was nothing to be gained by the two of them staying together in that manner. She would tell him that she was out of love with him and in love with Wally. Yes, now was the time for it all.

"Hoagie, I," she began but was cut off by something so unexpected from Hoagie that it shut her right up.

"I'm going to The TND Anger Management Center for the Criminally Enraged." He said quickly.

Abby suddenly felt lightheaded and deflated. She couldn't remember what she was about to say but at that moment she didn't care. "What?"

Hoagie smiled at her, a twinkle in his eye, "Yeah," he sighed, "I love you Abby and I don't want to continue hurting you like this." He suddenly engulfed her into a tight embrace.

Abby didn't struggle out of it, she was stunned into silence and vegetation. For the longest time she just let he arms hang there like limp noodles, swaying back and forth as Hoagie continued.

"I love you, Abby, and I hope that when I come back, you'll love me to."

And with that Abby's arms seemed to act on their own accord, wrapping themselves around Hoagie and snuggling her closer into his chest.

Hoagie smiled again the second her arms were around him and kissed her forehead, "I'll write you everyday while I'm gone. Please try to write back."

She suddenly pried herself off of Hoagie and looked deep into his eyes, "Does Nigel know that you're leaving? How long will you be gone?" she fired out questions.

Turning away, Hoagie ran his fingers over the surface of the table before him, "Yes, Numbuh One knows I'm going. It was his idea after I told him about some of our arguments… well… all about them." He turned around to face her, "I'll be gone for about a month or so."

Abby's eyes grew wide, "A month!"

Without warning Hoagie lowered himself so that they were level and kissed her, "This is for us, Abby. I love you." And he kissed her again, "I'm leaving tonight. Try to write me." And then he turned around to leave.

Abby stood there, absolutely in awe at what had just happened. She was going to tell him, she was going to end it. But he just whipped that out on her and… ugh, she groaned. She should have just told him not to bother because she was in love with Wally, right? Or was she? Hoagie was willing to admit that he had a problem and then go to fix it. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all? Confusion, that's all she could feel. That and hate of course.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kuki sat on her furry pink bed spread, legs and arms crossed. A frown on her face was an obvious indication that she was not happy. Wally stood, pacing around in a little circle a few feet away from her, "Wally!" she whined.

"Yeah, Kuki?" he said, half dazed and in another area mentally.

She gave another childish whine and got up, sashaying over to her man. She began stringing her fingers down his back and the up his arms, where they rested on his shoulders, "I'm not really tiered you know." She said.

"Yeah, I know."

Kuki frowned, moving her hands from his broad shoulders and to his chest, "Let's have some fun." She was practically begging him, "We haven't had any fun for so long."

Kuki was waiting for him to say something. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Her hands found the hem of his sweatshirt and slipped underneath to feel the hard muscle that seemed to coat his entire body.

Wally tinged a bit. Not because it felt good but because Kuki's hands were cold. He gently stepped away from her, forcing her hands out from underneath his shirt and turned to face her, "I'm gonna go work out in the gym for a while. So I'll…"

"Don't you love me anymore?" Kuki suddenly blurted out.

Wally stood there frozen. She was tearing up before him as though he had—hit her. Her big brown eyes made her look so vulnerable so… weak. That's when Abby's face flashed in his mind. He suddenly receded into the deep darkness in the back of his mind. I bet that's how Abby looks before Hoagie hits her. Like a baby. An innocent child. How could anyone make such a beautiful creature feel anything but happiness, he questioned.

"Well?" Kuki sobbed.

Wally snapped out of it, Abby's face disappearing, and walked over to hug his girlfriend. "Of course. Kuki, you know I love you."

She pressed her face into his chest, "I know, but lately… lately you've been acting strangely." She said, her voice muffled by his body, "I just can't figure out why. Are you keeping secrets, Wally?" she asked him in and earnest attempt to pump him for information. She pulled her best puppy dog eye face and pouted.

Wally hated when she did that. Her long eyelashes seemed to sweep away the many barriers of his mind and leave him open like a book. He swallowed, leaving his mouth awkwardly dry. He was hiding something from Kuki, his childhood love, the girl he loved and probably would love for the rest of his life and there was no way he could tell her flat out that he was cheating on her and had feelings for Abby.

Because he did, have feelings for Abby that is. Strong ones. Or was it just the stone having weird psychological side effects on his mind, making him think he had feelings stronger than friendship for her? No. These feelings were real and honest to gosh feelings that he had felt before but never acted on until now. The stone was merely a catalyst for them.

So what now? He wondered as he stared into Kuki's eyes. What could he say to her to make all of her pain and his go away? Nothing, that's what. So he did the next best thing—he lied.

He yawned and stretched his arms over his head, "Baby, I love you. And I'm sorry you feel that I'm keeping things from you." He told her in a soft tone, reassuring, exactly what she wanted to hear, "I've just been a bit tired lately, that's all. Okay, babe."

Kuki smiled at that. A big, ear to ear smile that Wally loved to see. She squealed and clung to him for a brief moment, wiping the streaks of tears from her face, "Good," she stifled a sob, "Well go get some rest then. And We can have our fun later." She said suggestively.

Wally gave her a final hug and headed for the door. He felt wrong for lying to Kuki but at least this way she wouldn't know about Abby. At least this way he could keep seeing Abby, maybe even get things straightened out.

In the hallway he let out a long, deep sigh that echoed through the empty corridor. His footsteps seemed heavy, like the guilt from lying had suddenly made him gain weight. He pushed the elevator summoning button and waited. With a ping the doors open and unfortunately he wasn't going to be making the elevator ride alone with only his thoughts, he had company—Hoagie.

Wally gingerly stepped in, debating on whether he should have waited and let Hoagie go on and he would take the stairs. Once the doors closed behind him, it was to late to turn back.

Hoagie held a blue shirt in his hands along with a pair of sunglasses. He was rubbing the fabric of the shirt in admiration with his thumb and index finger and eyeing Wally warily. He did not hide the fact that he was scowling at him from under his shaggy brown hair.

Wally also did not hide the fact that he was scowling from beneath his eye-covering blond hair. Emeralds against Sapphires. "Aren't those Abby's clothes?" he asked in tone of slight indignation. It probably wasn't his place to be in their business but Hoagie was beating Abby, it had become his business.

Hoagie scoffed and did not answer, he continued to gently stroke the fabric lovingly.

Wally dared to ask again, "I asked you a question." He flared.

Hoagie turned, and despite his muscular frame, gracefully in one sweeping motion and frowned, "It's none of your business, Aussie-boy." He said with a tone that oozed of disgust.

"Numbuh Five won't appreciate you going through her stuff, Steroids-boy." He retorted.

Hoagie shoved the clothes into a pack that was slung over his shoulder and took a step towards Wally, teeth barred, "What Abby appreciates and what she doesn't isn't any of your business," he growled, "I'm going away for a while and thought I'd take some mementos with me."

"Good, finally getting that personality tune up? It'll give Abigail some time to breathe for once." Wally couldn't believe what he just said. He and Numbuh two were fighting, in an elevator, after being friends and teammates for years and over what, a girl? No. Abby was not just a girl, she was the one Wally wanted. He wanted to have her, make her his.

The door pinged open right as Hoagie was about to say something else, Abby standing in the doorway, staring at them both. He recoiled and settled his face, he wanted her to believe that he was trying and yelling at Wally wouldn't do that. He adjusted his pack and exited the elevator, "Bye, babe. See you in a month or so." He told her.

Abby attempted to enter the elevator but was stopped as Hoagie pulled her into a loving embrace. He tipped her chin up gently kissed her, letting her warmth flow into him. He saw that she was resisting but the show was not over. He reached down, cupped her but and lifted her upwards, so that he could get at her lips better.

Abby felt strange as Hoagie kissed her. It was empty, passionless, cold. She had never gotten such a horrible hot kiss like that in her life. She continued to try and wriggle out of his grip but failed, Hoagie had been working out again.

Finally he let her go, basically dropping her to the floor. He said good bye one more time and then headed for the vehicle bay.

Abby entered the elevator, standing next to Wally, wiping her lips as she did so. She looked at him, but he was staring at a wall, the mirrored surface showed that he was frowning. Deep creases lined his forehead and he pinched his lips together in frustration. Abby could read him all to well—he was—jealous.

She turned to him, noting how he shifted closer to the wall, "Wally…" she murmured.

"Don't." he said shortly, "Just don't."

Abby grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around, "I didn't mean to do that in front of you."

"Yeah, he sure did." He almost yelled at her, "Abby, I've been thinking…"

Her eyes grew big. Was he going to confess his feelings for her, like she wanted to do for him? Was he going to engulf her in his arms and they would hold each other until they had to be parted? Yes, now was the time.

"Yes?" she tried to urge him on.

Wally paused a moment, just looking into her deep chocolate eyes and felt something burn in his heart. He had to look away, "I've been thinking that…" he sighed, "You should get your hair braided."

Abby's jaw dropped, "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, braided. Like Cree's. It's hot and it won't frizz up when we go to your parents lake house next week."

Silence.

Silence.

"Uh, okay." Abby said, defensively patting her hair down.

* * *

Yup yup! Ya'll know the drill.

Read and Review as always. Send me some suggestions sometime guys! I love suggestions.


	9. Lake House Lava

_DAMN its been a longggggg time coming. This is my official statement that this account is fully back up and running._

_For more of my stuff please check out Nutso-bonzo7. Less adult themed things. READ ON PLAYAS!_

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"Everybody ready?" Numbuh one called from of the tree house.

The day was upon them, their annual trip to Abby's parents' lake house was finally there. Everyone looked forward to it. The house itself was monstrous, so many rooms to choose from that they often slept in a different room every night. It sat on a hill, overlooking the entire lake and came fully stocked with food, drinks and various other things to keep a bunch of teenagers occupied for a while.

Everyone took their own cars whenever they went as it was a mutual rule that no business should take place while there. It took longer to get there than if they took a TND ship but no one really cared.

After receiving no response from any of his team members he honked the horn of his 98 Honda Civic, long and hard. Lizzie winced from the volume of it and then quickly added her own shrieking voice to the mix, "Nigel, if they're not ready then we can just leave them. They'll meet us later and we can get first pick of the rooms!" she yelled.

He rolled his eyes. Partially from the annoyance she had cause him and partially from the fact that his team was always late. Maybe that was why Sector H is somehow working their way up the charts, they are never late to a scene. In defeat he started his car and gave one final honk before yelling out, "Lizzie and I will meet you all there!" and then he drove away, wheels squealing as he went.

Abby was in her room packing, slowly, slower than she wanted. There were things swirling around in her head. Hoagie, Wally, her new hair do… there was no doubt in her mind that she loved the new hair do. No doubt about that at all. Everything else, however, required enough thought to make her head hurt.

Hoagie had been gone for almost a week now, Anger Management. She could not deny that she was happy. But even with him gone she hadn't had the gall to even be around Wally, from fear of another passionate outbreak. On missions, she'd ride by herself. On the occasion that the team had dinner together, she sat as far away from Wally as possible. Wally had texted her a few times but she never responded, she just couldn't talk to him after… whatever it didn't matter.

Hoagie was getting help. All for her, he was getting the help he needed to calm down, but was she glad about that? She didn't feel happy at all. There was a part of her that said that he should have done that years ago and then there was the part of her that wanted him to stay gone. Maybe with him gone she could finally get over everything. The A.P.P.L.E attack, the bruises, the heartache, everything.

There was a knocking at her door, three rhythmic knocks. She continued packing but responded in a monotone, "I'm almost done, just making sure I have all of my chargers," she called as she threw her cell phone charger, laptop charger and iPod connector into her large backpack. They never set a time for how long they stay at her parents' lake house. They once stayed for a whole month, blocking out communication with the TND base and cloaking the location so no one could find them.

The knocking persisted, just three rhythmic knocks on the door. "Hold on!" she yelled back, this time annoyed. When the knocks came again she zipped her pack and threw it over her shoulder angrily, "I'm coming! Jeeze!"

She stomped over to the door, pulled it open and gave a slight shudder. There before her, a dingy brown pack slung over his shoulder and blond hair blocking out his green eyes, stood Wally.

He wasn't looking at her, he refused to look at her because maybe now she would look at him. For days she hadn't looked him in the eye and his guess was that it was because he kept trying to force it. So now he looked away, hoping he could at least get a few words out.. "Hi," he said, a harsh and loud swallow followed.

Abby took a deep breath, not wanting to say anything really. She wanted to do something. Hug him, kiss him, touch him, rip every article of clothing off his body and throw him in her bed. But she swallowed and said, "Hey." She scooted past him in her narrow doorway and closed the door behind her.

Wally still had his eyes averted from her, even when her body was temporarily pressed against his. He pushed back some blond hair and waited a moment before speaking, getting his words right, "I've been meaning to tell you that I like your hair that way," he paused, "I mean, you look like Cree but better." As soon as he said it he felt stupid. Yeah, everyone knew Cree was hot, but everyone also knew that Abby hated being compared to her older sister. He had just put both feet and one hand into his mouth with that comment.

Instead of flaring up and kicking him in the face she turned, on her heels, away from Wally, "Thanks," and before he could say anything else, like she knew he was about to, Abby added, "Look we're late getting on the road. We'll hit traffic if we don't go right now." And then she ran off, hoping that he wouldn't come running straight after her.

He didn't. Wally just stood there, head still down but this time in defeat. He didn't know what else he could do to try and establish contact with someone who just didn't want to talk to him. What bothered him most about it was she did it so abruptly. Right after that bastard Hoagie left for his rehabilitation. She just shut down, not towards everybody, just towards him. She still spoke to Kuki, Nigel and even Lizzie with a friendly tone but he… he would give anything for her to yell at him. Scream. Pull his hair. And that gave him an idea.

With a smile and a new found lilt in his step he skipped down the hallway towards the garage, where his Ford F-150 sat waiting for him, Kuki inside and ready to go.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Linkin Park blasting, Abby sped out of the tree house, the wheels of her red Expedition squealing and sending up gravel where she past. She got through the entire Hybrid Theory and Meteora albums before getting to the lake house. A good two and a half hour drive of nothing but Chester and the band rocking out. She liked to sing along and imagine being on stage with them, Linkin Park was her favorite band after all.

The mountain she had to drive up was steep but because she had been there so many times it was like navigating the back of her hand with a bright light on it. All the curves, even in her expedition, were maneuvered with the utmost of ease, bumps in the road were barely noticed and the fact that it was raining didn't face her one bit. Pure driving confidence.

As she rolled up to the house driveway she noticed something was amiss. As in there were several amiss things—five cars to many in the main part of the driveway.

She pulled through the gate and stopped her car. Before turning it off she looked around. She saw Nigel's beat up old Civic still on and sitting complacently next to an Expedition like hers but blue… Cree's car. She sighed and got out of her car, cursing as she walked, in the rain, towards Nigel's car.

She knocked on his window, "Hey!" she yelled since they weren't rolling the windows down, "I'm going to go inside and see what's up. Stay here!"

Nigel and Lizzie nodded.

She turned and headed for the over sized steps to the lake houses oversized door. She hated how her parents designed the entrance way, far to flamboyant for even her tastes. She grabbed the huge knocker and slammed it against the door, forgetting for a moment that she had a key.

With a grunt and sigh she shoved the key, angrily into the key hole and turned, praying that it wouldn't break off. The door opened and she proceeded inside, slowly.

It was dark inside, the only light coming from the now thunderous outside. She took a couple steps inside and the froze, fearing an ambush. But she made a deal with Cree to never make a stand at the Lake House. Was Cree breaking the promise?

She reached inside her back pocket a pulled out her stunnuh-gunnuh. Even though the lake house was considered a work free zone, recent activities and occurrences told Abby to be on guard all the time.

Aiming straight ahead she continued to walk down the vast main hallway of her lake house. Past the foyer, past the coat closet, past the game room and the video game room. Past the kitchen and the linen closet. She saw nothing out of the ordinary while walking and that made her even more nervous. She paused coming back through the kitchen, nerves made her hungry.

Shoving the gun back into her pocket she opened the refrigerator and began searching its contents for something easily edible. She decided upon a slice of salami, straight from the package. She took a bite closed the door and…

"Boo!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Abby screamed as pieces of chewed up salami pelted her older sister in the face and they both fell backwards.

Cree cursed, "Fucking A, Abby, swallow your food much?" she said as she hoisted herself on her knees and helped her baby sister up.

Cree and Abby had such similar body structures that it was hard to tell who was older and who was younger. If it weren't for that fact that Cree liked her hair a bit shorter than Abby did, it'd be impossible to tell if they were twins or not. A fact they hated and like at the same time. Even though they were enemies they were still the best of friends and sisters.

"Shit, Cree!" Abby finally said when she was done chocking on non chewed up salami bits.

They stood up and looked each other over a bit, "Nice hair style," commented Cree.

Abby blushed a deep crimson and then regained composure with, "What are you doing here?"

Cree laughed, "Having a few friends up at the Lake House. Duh." She knocked on Abby's forehead as though she were a door.

Abby moved backwards a bit, "Why? And… and why is it so dark?"

With a smirk the older of the two sauntered towards the kitchen island and leaned on it coolly, "It takes a lot of energy trying to destroy you brats,"

"But the agreement!" Abby flared up, interrupting.

"Is still in play. Everyone here knows about it. The lake house is a neutral zone where your brats and my brats can intermingle without worry or care. I've informed everyone that any foul play that's not sexual or fun will be punishable." Cree finished, biting into an apple that seemed to materialize out of the darkness.

Abby was relieved to hear that her sister had not suddenly turned on her, at least she could count of that much. She took a bite out of what was left of her salami and then looked around, "Well," was all she said.

"Well what, sissy pie?"

"Where are all of your people? Why is it so dark in here?" she asked. It had bothered he since the initial scare-greeting.

Cree laughed as though her sister had asked something absurd, "We're playing hide and go seek, duh! Go grab your friends and get in here. You're it." She then turned and yelled loudly into the darkness, "We got more players!"

Every light in existence seemed to turn on just then. Abby was temporarily blinded by it and when her vision finally came back she was amazed at the number of people there, including someone she hadn't seen in years, Maurice.

"Hey, girl." Was all he said to her. She smiled.

Abby ran outside, chuckling as both Nigel and Lizzie were still huddled up his car. She ran over to the window, "Get out. Everything is okay." She told them.

As she turned to go back into the house a pair of headlight came barreling up the driveway, Wally and Kuki had finally arrived. Abby hoped she could make it inside before words had to be exchanged, Nigel could fill them in on how its safe to proceed and she could just go inside and get acquainted with some of her enemy-friends. No such luck.

"What in the crycky fuck is going on here?" she heard Wally scream, towards Nigel but it felt like it was for her. She didn't turn to answer, she was focused on getting inside. She could come back in the morning and get her stuff when everyone was sleeping.

"I don't know. Ask Abigale!" Lizzie whined, "I thought this was going to be a romantic trip for Nigey and I, NOT SOME HOTEL EROTICA MOVIE SET!"

Abby suddenly reared around, "My sister Cree and a few of her friends will be staying here for a while… with us." She felt everyone's lungs suddenly tighten, "But it's cool because the Lake house has always been a truce spot. Nothing is going to go wrong. There are consequences." She told them.

She saw Wally's face, briefly because she immediately turned away from it. But because of him she knew they believed her. She continued talking with her back towards the group, "Feel free to take the third level rooms, the a bit warmer than the rest but… they're also bigger than the second floor rooms." Then she headed into the house.

"Nice!" Kuki squealed, "You'll be rooming with me, right, baby?" she directed to Wally.

Wally wasn't listening to the question he just nodded and droned out a yes that sounds more like an alien language than English. Kuki squealed and tugged at his arm, which he couldn't feel. Every fiber of his being was focused on Abby and he now knew that the plan he had been devising for the last two and a half hours had to come into play. He hoped it would work, prayed it would bring her back to him.

He turned heel, looked down at Kuki and smiled, "Yeah," he said loud enough so that Abby could still hear it, "Yeah I'll room with you. Where else am I supposed to get some lovin?" he finished.

He heard the front do slam open and he knew she had heard, and hoped that she was getting mad. The slamming of the door was a small door prize for what he was hoping to get later. He smiled, kissed Kuki full on the lips and went to the back of the truck to get their stuff.

One hour to move in and three hours of hide and go seek fun to follow. Now in their third and half hour the it person, now an operative of Cree's crew, was skulking his way through the house, having no luck whatsoever, he was new, inexperienced. It would take him a while to figure out that half the people playing had Sucker-shoes on and were probably mere feet above him. Sucker.

Abby giggled as she slowly krept up the stairs, Craig, the it person, had just passed by her, not even looking in her direction. She was the best at hide and go seek, always has been and always will. She was only it if she gave herself up or if she volunteered early in the games beginning.

One step, two step, three step… rock?

"Ow! What the hell?" she touched the spot on her face where the rock it her. A small pebble tumbled down the stairs and she panicked, "No!" she silently screamed.

She could hear Craig's sudden shift of direction and he was heading straight for her. She started to run up the stairs only to be tripped by a foot. As she tumbled backwards she was caught by the shoulders, temporary relief until she saw who it was. "Thanks," she said half heartedly to Wally, who was wearing a devilish grin.

He winked at her, "Don't thank me yet."

In her confusion she let her guard down, big mistake. Wally let go of her just as Craig reered around the corner, letting her fall straight into his arms, "Gotchya, Abby." He said with the biggest smile on his face. Everyone knew that Abby and Cree were the best at hide and go seek and he had just caught Abby. His name would live on in infamy.

Abby's nostrils flared. What _the fuck?!_ She asked herself. _Why would he do something so… ugh! SO NOT FAIR!_

She spent her five minutes of it-person, thinking of ways to get back at Wally. She kept wondering why he would betray her like that. Hide and Seek is serous business and should be treated as such. He broke a cardinal rule, thou shall not be an asshole. He'd pay, he would pay dearly for what he did to her. Unfortunately all ways of getting back at him involved direct contact of either a verbal or physical manner. She was trying to avoid both.

So when she tagged Chad she headed straight for her room, locked the door and sat on her bed in darkness. Maybe coming to the lake house was a bad idea. Maybe it was to soon. Maybe she should have told Nigel to hold back for a week, like she had planned but never really got around to. Would he have asked her why she wanted to wait, they always came around this time. She sighed, exhausted both physically and emotionally.

"I know that sigh." Came a voice from the darkness.

Abby jolted a bit but when the voice connected to a face in her mind she relaxed, glad to have his company. "How long have you been hiding in here Maurice?" she asked.

He sat down on the bed next to her, wrapping her in his embrace, "I saw what happened, with that Wally kid," he paused and listened to the grunt she let out, "Why did he do that to his own teammate, I wonder." He said it in a way that made it seem like he already knew the answer. Then again, that's how he always spoke to Abby, because he always already knew.

Abby adjusted herself so that she was laying in his lap. He was so big now. She still remembered when he was just a scrawny thirteen year old with glasses that just kept sliding down his face. Now he was a man, a real man's man. Muscles to spare, and a voice to match. She was glad that he kept his dreadlocks for so long as well.

Abby shrugged after a long silence and then pouted, glad no one could see her face, "I don't know. Things have been weird lately." She stated.

He waited to respond, "I noticed your beau is not here. You were dating that Hoagie kid right?"

She gave another sigh, "Yes."

"That didn't sound happy."

"I know."

She waited for him to respond with something enlightening. She felt him take in the breath to speak but he immediately let it go and then chuckled a bit before gently lifting her head off his lap and letting her fall onto the comforter of her bed. Abby looked up at him questioningly but all he did was smile back, "We'll talk later. I have to go."

With much haste, Maurice left the room, looking through the crack in the door before jumping into the hallway and bounding off into darkness again.

Abby sat up, still confused before she felt the bed jolt. She laughed, "Maurice how did you…"

"It's not Maurice." Wally said seriously.

He was right behind her, to close for her to turn without him knowing it. He grabbed her, hard, by the shoulders to make sure she could hear everything he was about to say to her. He wanted her mad and he was going to make her furious.

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You've read it, now review it.

The more reviews the faster the next chappie comes out.

Due Date being..... August 22nd. Hit it.


	10. Project: XPLD2

**Not for the squeamish. And yes, I DID update earlier than I said I would.**

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Abby's nostrils flared as her breathing began to become erratic. The pressure on her shoulders was monstrous but that was nothing compared to the weight of having him next to her. She wondered how he got into her room and what he was doing there. What did he want with her?

Through clenched teeth she managed to get out two words, "Get out," she had to keep words at a minimal on her part. That was the deal she made with herself. Minimal talking equaled minimal contact.

Wally tightened his grip on her in response, he wasn't going anywhere until his plan had been completed. He had to lean in to get to her ear, "Are you scared?" he asked her without a tone but with a voice that surprised him. Nothing more than a hushed tone but it held so much malice within it. When she didn't answer right away he asked her again, shaking her a bit.

"No!" she yelled by accident. She really didn't mean to yell but he was, in fact, scaring her a little bit, "Get out, Wally." She said harshly.

Wally slowly released her shoulders and backed away from her, back into the darkness. Abby took this as a sign that he was leaving the same way he came it but she was wrong. He paced the length of her room two times before responding, he'd been in there for a while getting the layout of her room so he didn't run into anything. "Is this how it starts for you?" he asked her.

She shivered a bit; she really thought he had left her, hoped he had left her alone in her misery. She took in a deep breath, "How what starts for me?"

"The abuse? Does it start like this?" His tone was growing more and more dark, "Does he like to hit you in the dark so he doesn't see you cry?"

"Get out!" Abby found her voice rising without her consent again. She slowly got off the bed, barely making any sound and hoping the Wally didn't hear her move. If he wasn't going to leave then she was. She had no intention of sticking around to her Wally's manic drones. She didn't have to take that.

She tiptoed her way across the floor, slowly so she wouldn't make a sound. It took every ounce of will power to keep her breathing steady. Wally seemed to have disappeared from the room entirely until his voice flared up from behind her, "Where do you think you're going?" he whispered, wrapping his hands around her waist and flinging her, like a rag doll, back onto the bed. She screamed and landing with a thud and some choice curse words. Wally smiled to himself, it was working.

Abby untangled herself from the covers and tried to sprint from the bed again, this time making a sound was the least of her worries. She was becoming angry and anger meant saying words to Wally. But what did she care about contact now? He was obviously asking to have his ass kicked so why not hand him an economy sized can of ass-whoop, she wondered.

How dare he speak to her like that? How dare he touch her like that? Abby Lincoln does not take this from people, she dishes it out.

So she stopped sprinting for the door in realization that she had to stop running from him and start fighting. This realization came just in time for her to be tackled to the ground with the entirety of Wally's weight on top of her.

He landed in a straddle, his hands pinning her hands down at the wrist. He couldn't see her face but he prayed that it was contorted in a fit of rage, "I think that snotty attitude of yours is why he beats you! You deserve it you bitch," with every word something was releasing inside of him, something he had never experienced before, "You lying, cheating whore!" Something he didn't think was in him, "You like it when he's bashing your face it with those meat claws he calls hands, don't you?"

Something snapped inside of Abby. All self control was replaced with an animalistic desire to maim Wally in any way possible. She wanted to pluck every pretty blond hair from his skull, gouge out both his shining green eyes and hold them up just so he could watch her castrate him later. She wanted to hurt him so badly—so she did.

Using her feet as a way to steady herself she bucked her hips upwards, causing Wally to fall forward just far enough for her to head butt him, hard. He fell off her long enough for the pain in her head to stop and for her to mount him, knees on his wrists. "Call me a bitch one more time!" she yelled, "One more time and I'll show you what its like to get beat."

Wally, even through his pain, was smiling. The biggest smile he had done in the last week or so. He had gotten what he wanted, she was mad, really mad and it seemed like it would never stop. She was yelling at him and had even hit him, there was no going back from this. He was liking it—strangely, he thought. He was happy, scared, pleased with himself and slightly turned on by the whole thing.

"Bitch."

"That is it!" Abby slammed her fisted hand into his face. There was a small, disgusting crack and Wally made a sound much like gurgling, like he was drowning. But she didn't stop. She hit him again, scraping her own knuckles against his teeth, it hurt and she knew she was bleeding. She liked it.

Wally was drowning in his own blood; he knew Abby must've broken his nose in a bad way. He could barely breath and she was still punching him but for some odd reason he was enjoying the violence a little to much. He liked his nose being broken, enjoyed the feeling of sheer anger coursing through his veins. He thought it was time to return the favor, show Abby what it feels like. "WHORE!" he yelled out, hoping she would let out one of those angry growls she was so good at.

She did. It was long, raspy and full of what could only be interpreted as hatred lining it. She went to punch him in the face again; she was stopped by Wally's hand overlapping hers. He chuckled and pulled her off him in one foul motion, she was just that much small than he was. She hit something hard, the bookshelf most likely and was momentarily disoriented.

Wally stood up. The blood that was free flowing from his nose now soaked through and down his shirt. He was glad it was dark, he must have been quite the sight at that point. He wiped at his face, wincing a bit around his eye area. She must've broken his nose and given him a black eye. _Yes_. _No? This isn't right_.

Abby slowly stood up, hoping that if she didn't make a sound she could sneak up on him, wail on him some more. She liked the way her hand hurt after hitting him the face. She like the feeling of the cartilage in his nose giving way to her force. But why was she suddenly so violent? Is this what Hoagie feels like when he hits her?

She heard the chair being picked up before it hit her, she didn't have time to move out of the way. She felt her shoulder shift from the socket and the chair give way to her bones, it broke into pieces. She remembered that chair from when she was younger and now it was smashed into little tiny pieces—big enough to hit Wally with. "You bastard," she said sternly, feeling around on the floor for a piece of wood she could use, "You think for a second that I'm going to sit here and take this shit from you," she managed to find a large chunk of the leg of the chair and wrapped her fingers around it, "The stupid one. The one who crashes almost every fucking ship we have. Wallabee Beatles, the Australian dumbass!" she was yelling viciously at this point.

Her voice echoed through the room for a moment and then everything went silent. She was waiting for him to respond or make any sound at that, just so she could find him and whack him one. She waited, waited and waited. He was either being very still or he left during her rant.

Suddenly there it was, five feet from where she was standing, the tiniest of sounds, but she knew it was him. She launched herself towards the sound, realizing all to late where it was coming from, the door in front of the bathroom.

She connected and they both went flying through the door hitting the light switch on the way to the marble tiled floor.

Wally was the first to get up, catching his reflection in the mirror. _Damn_, he said to himself, _I look like a dingo just dragged my five miles through the bush!_ There were many trails of blood on his face, the biggest one being a crimson red tide extending from his nose and covering everything down, his shirt and even the top of his pants. His right eye was a now a blue and black lump with its own blood gushing from the side. The left side of his face was all scratching up and, on top of all that, the most heinous of things, his was a complete mess.

He looked down at the now struggling Abby on the floor. She had a giant wooden stick in her hand, he recognized it as a piece of the chair he had cracked on her shoulder. He looked at her carefully. Her shirt was nearly completely gone, all that hung there were rags now, exposing the barely there bra she had on. Because she was completely bent over and on all fours her shorts looked much shorter, almost exposing more than they were meant to. There were tiny scratches, some bleeding some not, running all down her legs, he hoped he had caused them. He hopes she felt in a physical manner what he had been feeling emotionally for a week. He hoped she was sorry for everything or he was going to make her sorry.

Abby coughed, catching the breath that had just been knocked out of her. Her throat was on fire and her ribs hurt like hell. She flipped her hair back and turned just enough to see Wally's looming figure standing over her. She laughed a maniacal laugh, "Worked you pretty good, didn't I?" she didn't really mean it as a question, more of a triumphant statement. When he didn't respond she got angry, she wanted to hear him say she won, "Didn't I?!"

Wally chuckled. He wasn't going to answer, not with words anyways. He walked around to where he face was and continued to look down. She looked up at him, blood trickling down her cheek and he lowered himself so that they were face to face, nose touching.

Abby's teeth were barred, frown lines gracing the beautiful face that Wally was falling for. He grabbed her by the neck, hard enough to keep her from going anywhere but soft enough so that he wasn't cutting the air flow to her lungs, he still had that much self control left. As he gazed into her eyes, full of hatred, fear and confusion he knew something was wrong. Something had gone too far somewhere. He couldn't understand why he was still going through with this plan to make her angry.

But she wasn't just angry. _They_ weren't just fighting. They were trying to actually hurt each other. Wally didn't want this and though he couldn't tell, Abby didn't either.

Abby stared into Wally's green eyes, knowing that he was thinking the same things she was, something wasn't right with this. But she couldn't stop the words that were coming out of her mouth, she had gone to far already, "Do it!" she screamed, "Fucking do it!"

Wally lifted her up by her throat and held her there, his grasp growing tighter. He could hear her breathing worsening, "Abby," he was scared now but his body, his voice, his actions were still violent. _Damnit! I can't stop. I'll kill her at this rate_, "Abby," he tried again. It didn't work he still sounded angry and his hand was still around her throat.

"FUCKING DO IT, Wally!" Abby yelled again. She didn't know why she was still screaming. She was honestly more scared for her life than angry but like Wally could not stop doing angry things. _Fight it, Abby! Fight it!_ She yelled at herself, but couldn't.

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"_That's enough!" _

Cree and her friends/co-workers had been watching the entire thing. Not just Wally and Abby's fight. But Nigel and Lizzie's. Kuki was against the new recruit, Craig. But Cree, even though she was technically on a job, could no longer watch her sister's anguish on screen anymore. It was honestly, too much.

Maurice let out an almost too loud sigh when Cree said that, thankful she finally came to her senses.

Cree looked over her shoulder, noting that the machine had not been cut off. She turned completely to Chad, who was operating it and scowled, "I said that's enough. Shut it off now!" she yelled.

Chad looked down at her with a questioning glare, "Why?" he asked shortly. He was enjoying the show to be honest with you. The fight between Lizzie and Nigel was all talk. I'll break up with you, this, and I never love you, that. Completely unsatisfactory. Kuki versus the new guy was just priceless. Because Craig was protected by the B.R.A system the stone hadn't affected him at all so when Kuki started to go kung fu he ran like his heels were on fire.

But it was different with Abby and Wally, oh yes, Chad had noticed. They took it to a whole new level. The stone can only amplify emotions once in contact with living organisms. You have the urge to kiss a girl and the green stone can take that, turn it around, amp it up and the next thing you know your clothes are hanging off the lamp shade. In tests with the red stone, now titles, XPLD2, people usually just got into slap fights. Abby and Wally had started at slap fight and worked their way to WWE cage match. They intrigued and entertained Chad to know end, he couldn't deny.

Cree was not so amused. She couldn't fathom how her sister and Wally could even think about doing that to each other. From the beginning she feared for her sister and now she knew she had good reason. She hit the button on the machine violently, ignoring Chad's pouty face, "I said shut it off." She said sternly before cutting through the crowd and standing at the door to address her troops, "Everyone get your fight make up on and put the bottles of alcohol in the spots. Pour some shots, spill a few bottles, just make it look believable. When they wake up I want everyone playing their part. Phase two is go." She stated flatly.

Somehow she thought the successful testing of the stone for Father would make her happy, it didn't. There was surely going to be a promotion in it for her. Maybe a new car or a free vacation.

_Damn, Abby_.

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Abby went limp, eyes closed.

Wally suddenly felt weak. His vision blurred, his head hurt, every muscle in his body felt like someone let the air out. He felt like he was slowly deflating. The hand holding Abby let her go. _Finally_, he thought, realizing that whatever was fueling his anger was finally not present anymore. .

She crumpled to the floor like a little puppet and even though ever fiber of his being wanted to help her, he couldn't, because he was falling too.

He hit the floor with a sickening splat, more blood was coming from his nose and various scratches on his wrist from where Abby tried to claw her way out of his clutches. He would have rather lost a hand than hurt Abby the way he did.

But all thoughts subsided. He didn't even know if he was still breathing. With the final ounce of energy left in him he looked at Abby, reached out and touched her inanimate hand, "_I'm sorry."_

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**Sorry it was so dark, for those of you who don't like violence, but it was an important scene.**

**I feel bad. Make me feel better with some REVIEWS haha. **


	11. Tick, tick, tick

**Boom headshot! Not really but...**

**UPDATE! This is, of course, the result of the previous chapters activities.**

**Personal querey: as a favor to me, topdog, please recommend my story to peoples! I would like to have lots of feedback so I can make the dang story better. Grawr.**

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"Wha…what happened?"

Kuki was lying face first in a puddle of her own drool, splatters of blood adorned the area around her along with a bruised and hunched over Craig. She could imagine what terrible things happened while she was passed out.

She managed to lift herself up on all fours, silky black hair spilling around her face, "Craig…" she tried to speak but she had a bad case of cotton mouth. He palms were sweaty and the skin on her knuckles had somehow been rubbed raw.

He looked jolted a bit when she said his name. For the last few hours she had been throwing him around like a pin ball with kicks and spins no person in A.P.P.L.E could pull off. He wasn't informed that Kuki was a seventh degree black belt in kung fu and a third in Tae Kwon Do when he volunteered for the job. Because of her he now had a black eye, what felt like two broken ribs, and dented shin that would hurt like hell for at least three weeks.

Craig adjusted the ice pack on his head and chuckled a bit out of amusement. Not that anything was particularly funny around him at the moment. Furniture was beyond destroyed, there were linens that would never be free of his blood stains and above all that she had ripped his favorite shirt but he chuckled.

Kuki had him screaming like a little girl within the first ten minutes the stone was activated. It started innocently enough. According to the plan, the TND dorks had to all be paired up and secluded from the others. Because the boulder, Hoagie, was suddenly M.I.A Craig volunteered to be with the extra. It truly surprised all of them when Wally snuck into Abby's room and just stayed there, not for the game but for his own purposes. Craig was fine with it just because he knew if he had to be with Abby she would have stabbed him or something—she was Cree's younger sister after all. So he got stuck with the sweet, loving, little, cutie one, so he thought. All the other A.P.P.L.E operatives on the job, once given the signal from Cree, cleared out of the lounge room and left him and Kuki to their own resources. It was hard to get her angry, he reflected.

He made fun of her heritage. Brought up the fact that she was a bit immature and wasn't the best operative; never was, isn't now and never will be. She brushed all of that to the side easily with a sigh, a nod, or a grunt. The second he insulted rainbow monkeys—it was on.

She had pounced from her chair and onto him, causing them both to topple from the bar and to the hardwood floor. That was bruise number one. She was yelling, scratching, and spitting everywhere. What made it worse was the fact that she was drunk on top of angry so there was no hope of her holding back due to moral sensitivity. Craig instantly regretted his choice to stay.

"Craig…" she said his name again in a hoarse whisper. He looked at her but said nothing. Kuki took the look as his response, "What happened?"

Craig thought about what to say for a brief moment. Cree had given him a list of appropriate answers but he didn't want to say any of them. He wanted to call her bitch and get her back for all the abuse she dealt out to him while she was being an angry drunkard. However, his fear of Cree and Chad far surpassed the vengeance he wanted. He picked phrase three, "Party got out of control last night," he gave her a fake laugh, "People were going buck wild," he added.

Kuki, finally on her wobbly feet, looked around the room. There was toilet paper, broken bottles of Bacardi and shreds of fabric everywhere she turned. A shot glass, sitting alone on the bar counter, caught her eye. It was the last thing she touched before… before… Well she couldn't really remember. There were hours of her life she couldn't account for at the moment.

After a brief moment of silence she nodded and laughed to herself, "I guess I over did it a bit, huh?" she was searching for answers within herself as she said it.

Craig looked at her for only a moment, realizing that the rumors were true. People affected by the red stone usually don't remember what they did while under the influence. She didn't even remember almost killing him last night. He was slightly insulted but mostly relieved. So he laughed with her, "Yeah."

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Cree and Chad lay in her second floor bedroom. They had just made love for the fourth time and now they couldn't stop looking at each other. Chad ran his fingers over her mocha brown skin, tracing random patters and looking straight into her eyes, "You're angry, Cree," he said simply, never taking his blue eyes off her. Today they were a light blue, meaning he was happy or pleased to be there with her.

Cree smiled, "No I'm not."

Chad knew better. He had liked Cree since before they were thirteen and running from the decommissioning machine. True, angry seemed to be her default but right at that moment she wasn't just angry, she was hurting. He saw a storm behind her eyes and he couldn't imagine what was causing it… unless…

"Is this about your sister?" he asked her bluntly as he removed his hand from her arm. He knew it must be hard for Cree, being against her family and all. No one but Chad knew how Cree managed to work around ever getting into a tousle with her sister in the field. Because of her commanding post she could send whoever she wanted out instead of going herself. He didn't mind it, in fact it never really even mattered to him.

Cree sat up suddenly, bringing the blanket up with her so she wasn't exposed to the cool morning air, "Chad, nothing gets between me and my work for Father."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the speech, Cree." He cut her off. She was probably the best solder in A.P.P.L.E weather she knew it or not, but she still had her weaknesses—the biggest being Abby. "If you want to leave," he caressed her chin, "I'll tell the squad to pack up and move out. Anyone who questions the order will be punished."

She smiled and placed her hand on top of his, "Always so bloodthirsty," she laughed, "But, I will finish the experiments for Father."

Chad frowned. He could sense the unwillingness to continue in Cree, she was suffering and battling against herself. He slowly sank back down into the covers, wrapping himself up like a mummy and then sighed, "Fine. Father wants the red stone report by tomorrow and the blue stone experiment completed my next week."

Cree said nothing as he rolled over to his side and starting snoring, she was happy to have him there with her, supporting her even when she isn't completely in the game. That was Chad, her support beam whenever she needed.

Her cell phone rang.

_Maurice…_

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_Time bomb_ by Beck rang through the room. The sound bounce of the walls and over debris in the floor, eventually reaching the hole in the bathroom door and forcing through, straight into Abby's ears. She stirred from her fetal position on the floor taking in a huge gulp of air she didn't know she needed.

She opened her eyes, immediately wanting to shut them again. She rose up a bit, thinking if she changed her angle the sight before her would seem less gruesome—she was wrong.

Not two feet from her lay Wally, his usually beautiful tan skin besmirched by black and blue, puffy and red splotches. She couldn't see his face, just his arms, legs and his back. One of his hands, still oozing blood slowly, lay on hers and she pulled it away faster than she thought she could move. She was in shock, _What happened here?_ She asked herself, terrified.

She crawled to him, although every instinct was telling her to run away and get help. Gently she ran her fingers across his arms, checking how big and how deep the gashes were. She then gave his legs a look over; they weren't that bad, minor scratches only. But his back was another story.

The entire back of his shirt was missing, like he got into a fight with a werewolf and lost. There were bruises and scratches, very deep and still leaking blood. She guessed that the injuries must be hours old because most of it was dried and caked onto his skin. She gingerly shoved her hands underneath him, with the intention of turning him over, until he suddenly shuttered and gasped.

She pulled her hands back, letting the entirety of his weight fall back to the floor. "Ouch," Wally said in a harsh whisper.

Abby didn't say a word; there was nothing she could say. Somehow she knew that she was the one who did this Wally. She may not remember doing it but she felt it in the very core of her self. She put a hand on the back of Wally's head, the only part that wasn't bleeding, scabbed over, or bruised as far as she could tell and spoke softly, "Wally…" she whispered to him, "Wally I'm so sorry." And she meant it. Whatever she had done to him was not deserved at all. Still, she couldn't put her finger on what happened in the last few hours.

She remembered sitting in her room, alone, in darkness after being pissed about what Wally did to her in hide and seek. She remembered the visit from Maurice, she had been happy to see him after so long, happy to have his comforting embrace even if it was for a short while. She remembered him suddenly running off for no reason and then… Wally came in. From then on it was a big, black, inconclusive blank with no word box.

Wally's hand twitched and he groaned, trying to move, "Abby," he spoke her name like it was a holy prayer. Even in his battered state he was worried more about her than his own well being, "Are you okay?" he managed to get out, getting on his knees.

His shoulders and knees popped as he straightened himself out. The dried blood on his back began to chip off and from it came new, fresh blood. He rolled his neck; it cracked as well, and began rolling his shoulders, backwards then forwards. He was playing off his pain very well. He turned Abby and heard her gasp, "What?" he questioned.

She touched his face, "Your face is all bloody and your eye…" she couldn't even speak at this point since she was trying to keep from crying. His beautiful face was bashed, crashed and busted up and she _knew_ it was her fault. There wasn't a doubt in her mind.

Wally stood up, regretting it as his body cried out in silent pain, turned and looked in the mirror, "Blimey!" he laughed at his reflection. He didn't think it was funny but he had to make Abby feel better. He felt like everything was his fault.

"Stop laughing!" she yelled, "This isn't funny!" she stood up despite the obvious protesting from her limbs and ran up to him. She ignored the scratches on her face because by comparison, Wally had it much worse. "What did I do to you?" she asked.

Wally laughed again, "Don't flatter yourself, Sheila, I got a bit too drunk last night, that's all." He stated.

Abby cocked her head to the side, confused, "Wally, you and I didn't drink any alcohol last night." She stated. Because they didn't.

Wally made a sweeping motion of the bathroom, signaling that she should take a look around, "Bacardi 151, stuff messes you up, Abby," he said to her, "You were a lightweight to begin with so that must have set you over the top and then some."

Abby looked around the bathroom. There was a cracked bottle of Bacardi 151 on the floor and a glass half full of the dark liquid sitting on the edge of the tub. She peered out of the hole in the bathroom door and into the main room. The covers were sprawled on the floor, pillow cases torn in to shreds. Her bookcase was a pile of scrap wood and her childhood sitting chair was no more.

In the middle of it was a bottle of Smirnoff the size of her calves, the whole thing empty.

Still, she didn't remember taking one sip of anything alcoholic the night before. She didn't remember taking a shot or even sipping a on a frosty glass of beer. No licking, no tipping, no sucking. None of it was clicking. But she had so much that she became abusive then it's no wonder she woke up with a headache and no memory of the previous night. But…she's never…before this, and it didn't make any sense.

Abby looked back at Wally, her stomach falling again as he tried washing everything off his face. With the utmost of control she walked over, grabbed a wash cloth from the rack and ran warm water on it. "Lemme help you," it wasn't a statement; it was her way of begging.

Wally only looked at her as she rang the excess water out the cloth and brought it oh so slowly to his face. It stung on contact but he stayed focused on her. Her eyes were so intense, a fire behind them, like tending to Wally's wounds was her only skill and she was going to perfect it right then and there. She started where the most dried blood was, around his nose area and down his chin. She was careful not to rub to hard and extra sensitive around areas with exposed wounds.

Abby was focused, more focused than she had ever been in school, more focused than she had ever been on a mission. Wally was the only thing in her universe at that point in time. He didn't move an inch the entire time she was cleaning him up. He didn't speak but he did stare, intensely, at her for a long time. She thought he was going to burn holes through her forehead. She was able to ignore it.

When she was finished with his face she dipped the cloth back under the running water to clean it, "Alright," she said quietly, "Now let me do your back."

Wally didn't move. He had heard her but he didn't move. "Stop it," was all he said.

Abby shook a little bit from the way he said it. The tone in his voice seemed to strike a memory far, far away. She laughed it off, "Don't worry, I'm not squeamish."

Wally reached under the water and took the cloth right out of her hands, "Stop pretending like you care. I'll do it myself." He then began dabbing his arm with it, cleaning the blood off there.

Abby ripped it back, worried that she may have scratched him again, "What?" she asked, "I'm not pretending so let me help you!"

"I don't believe you. I can't believe you." He refused to look at her.

Abby sagged a bit, "Wha… what do I have to do to make you believe me. I'm here covered in, what I can only assume is, your blood. I want to take care of you."

Wally shook his head, blond hair flying about, "No. That proves nothing; you'd do that for a stranger."

She was confused but Wally's statement was true. She would help whoever needed helping, that was just her way. "Wally. I care very deeply for y…"

She never got to finish her sentence as his lips came crashing down on hers. He wrapped one bloody arm around her back, feeling almost every scratch and gash open back up. But he didn't care, he needed that one kiss.

Abby, eyes wide open, couldn't believe what was happening. Hoagie… Kuki… they suddenly stopped mattering to her. They had no relevance. Wally had that effect on her, to her dismay. So slowly her body relaxed into his, her eyes closed and her arms went up and around his neck and she let the sweet energy that was his flow through her.

The kiss was soft at first, growing into this gigantic flurry of hands running through hair, grabbing at hips and wanting more. Abby pulled away for air at some point only to have her neck completely devoured by Wally's kisses. He paused and looked at her, "I believe you," he panted, "I believe you care." And when Abby looked him straight in the eyes and smiled, he melted a bit inside.

He reached down, cupped her firm bottom and lifter her so that she was sitting on the edge of the sink counter. He grabbed her face with both hands and slowly brought her face back to his.

Abby let out a soft moan as he slid his hands from her face, down her neck and down her arms before grabbing her hips and grinding them into his. It was like he just couldn't have enough of her. She wasn't exactly complaining about it.

Her phone was still going off in her room but she ignored it, she was, at the moment, busy. _We've got a time bomb, we've got a time bomb, we've got a time bomb na nana na! We've got a warning light, we've got a warning light, we pull the plug and we na nana na. There's a time bomb tickin'…_

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Hoagie sat in his cell, alone and cold. That's all he had been since he got to the facility for his treatment.

They say his rehabilitation happens in two steps. One, break them down and two, build them back up again. He was in the beginning of his break down stage; in a cell with only a cot that was far to small for him to sleep on and a rusty old can they call a toilet. The cell was made of nothing but rocks that were cemented together, no window. There was only a small door ten feet in front of him with a slot for him to receive food. They had, quite literally, put him in a criminal's place.

He was thankful for the wide space of the cell though. At least he could pace around for hours upon hours; he could exercise and stretch out of the floor as he pleased.

On the cot next to him sat a blue bundle, it was one of Abby's shirts. He picked it up and fondled it between his fingers, trying to imagine her in it. He missed her. He had even called her a few times but she never answered. As promised before he left he had written, he knew they were at the lake house this week but he wrote to her anyways. She responded to one of his letters from last week with a full page letter—he wrote three pages front to back.

He wasn't angry though, no, they taught how not to be angry and punished him when he got angry. He didn't want to be punished anymore.

Looking back, Hoagie couldn't believe what he had put Abby through. Hitting her? When the hell did he start hitting women? He thought he was such a gentleman… yeah right.

So far the lessons were simple, how to stay calm even when you feel like bursting and how to find other way of letting your frustrations out. He listen when in class, he listened with the utmost of attention and took notes, detailed notes.

So with a sigh of disappointment that once again, no mail came for him, he sat Abby's shirt down and crossed his legs Indian style. He put his hands together as though he were about to say a prayer and began chanting. It was part of his nightly ritual since arriving there.

_Clear your head of angry thoughts_, he said to himself, _nothing that makes you angry is ever good. Think of happy things_.

Abby's face popped into his mind first. He remember the day he asked her to be his girlfriend. He had just come back from fat camp and never, in a million jillion years, did he think she'd say yes. He had liked her for so long that he was beginning to think she was just one of those unattainable guys. Who was he kidding, every guy in school wanted to ask Abby out. Some actually worked up the nerve to ask her. There were only one or two that actually got to go on a date with her but ultimately she either shot you down on your first try or busted your face later in the date for trying to go to far.

Their first date was at the ice cream parlor, they were thirteen so going by themselves wasn't an issue. Hoagie had saved up all his allowance money, just in case she wanted a burger or something while there. She ordered a strawberry milkshake and a bacon cheeseburger with potato wedges, not fries, she hated fries. He had a vanilla milkshake and regular burger with onion rings—bad choice.

The date went fine. They talked about business at first; working for the TND now and about where their latest assignments had taken them. He remembered her saying something about going to Mexico and chilling with the newly on board Mexican operatives. He told her that Rachel had him on tech detail until they were sure everything was okay… everything meaning they were making sure he was okay because his brother was now in critical condition in a TND hospital.

Tommy, poor little, newly instated Tommy. Why did it have to be him? Why did they have to go after him, he was so young.

_No_, Hoagie stopped that thought train in its tracks, _not the right way to go. What else did she talk about that night, Hoagie, what else_? He strained to find the rest of the memory.

Abby was sitting there sipping on her milkshake and Hoagie asked what she had been up to all summer. Since he was gone he really didn't know what she did the entire time.

She smiled and told him about this video gaming competition she entered and won. She called the game Death Strike Zero or something; he was never as a big of a video game buff as she was. She took a sip of her milkshake again and told Hoagie about how Wally entered without telling her first and ended up almost beating her, almost.

_Wally…_

The same Wally who would grow up and try to take his Abby away. The same Wally who may have put his stupid little Aussie nose where it didn't belong. The same Wally who his Abby looks at with such admiration.

Hoagie lost it with that thought. He got off the cot, picked it up and flung it all the way across the room. It hit the door, causing a loud, echoing, crash that he didn't seem to notice. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving up and down. The cot wasn't heavy or anything but the pressure on his lungs seemed to increase as more thoughts of Wally came to mind.

"Shut up in there!" came a voice from outside his door, his watcher.

Hoagie said nothing. He curled into a ball and, noticing it laying there, pulled Abby's shirt in close, closing his eyes and smelling it. He then went back to sitting Indian style, hands clasped together and began chanting, "Abby is mine. Abby is mine…"

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**Oh snapskis! Read and Review please.**

**Also this is the longest chapter in the story [applause] and the song _Time bomb_ is by Beck. check it out, you'll like it.**


	12. Monkey Wrench

**Although I am still sad over the lack of responses I have, I will continue to write! I WILL CONTINUE!!!**

**Without further ado, read and enjoy.**

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Numbuh 362 was only seconds away from completely blacking out. She had been up since two of the previous morning reading the report Abby and emailed to her on the green stone. Twenty six pages of what, a detailed explanation on how she climbed into a cave, swam, found a mysterious lab and then left, Wally in toe. She rubbed the temples on her forehead, almost ashamed that the organization she ran had so much paper work to dish out. She still had tampon dispenser requests to go through and the night was not getting any younger.

She flung the entire manila folder of her desk and spun around in her throne-like chair until she was facing the windows of her office. She always like this office because it was large and had a wonderful view of the Earth. She'd miss it when she hit thirty and her little brother inherited her spot—hopefully. He wasn't making a good name for himself sleeping with all the girls. Another problem to deal with on another day.

Rachel tied her long blond hair into a sloppy bun and let out a long sigh. "Computer!" she yelled into the empty space that was her office.

"Yes, Commander?" a computer voice responded.

"Turn on my iPod. Shuffle it up please."

"Yes maame." It said before the song _Nothing to Worry About_ came on.

Rachel relaxed into her chair, letting herself slide down. Her head started to bob with the beat and she felt herself starting to slip away into the music. She liked moments like this, moments where she felt like a normal teenager, not like one trying to run an organization made to save the world for tyrants. She realized that soon they would have to change the name again. They weren't just teens anymore. Most of the operatives were twenty-two, if not twenty-four, by now. Where was new decommissioning age? Was she obligated to go back and recomission all the decommissioned thirteen year olds—she groaned. How many times had she asked herself that, she did not know. There was still the issue of the people like Chad and Cree who escaped their decommissioning.

Were they technically still part of the TND now? They were both in their twenties, they still qualified.

She groaned, loudly, "Fuck!" she yelled.

The elevator door to her office suddenly opened and she wanted to just stunnuh-gunnuh whoever it was at this late hour. She spun around in her chair to face the person.

It was Franny, running towards her desk, panting and sweating. She was carrying a large stack of papers, folders and a metal tube of some kind, her beyond red hair was clinging to her face and she stumbled a bit, never loosing pace though. This could not, in any ways, be good; Rachel knew it, "iPod off." The music died away.

When Numbuh 86 reached the desk she nearly collapsed, spilling the contents held in her arms all over the desk. "Sector… H… Egypt… not good!" she panted and screamed, making it damn near impossible for her Commander to make out anything she said.

"Franny, calm down and try again. I can't understand you." She laughed a bit, even though she could tell her right hand girl was having a terrible fit.

Franny pulled out an inhaler she had in her vest pocket and took a deep drag of air. Almost instantly she was good again. She put the inhaler back and the looked at Rachel, nothing in her eyes was pleasant.

"Sir, sector H contacted me with most troubling news," Franny started, pulling out a navy blue folder and holding it out for Rachel to take. She did so Franny continued, "Earlier today, US mountain time, they tried establish communication with the operatives in the main base at Sector E but noticed something was off."

As Rachel flipped through the contents of the folder she new that something bad was about to come out of Franny's mouth. She was trying to brace herself for anything as she looked at pictures of the Egyptian base in complete shambles.

"Because of the suspicions, the team agreed hours later that Maxine Beats, one of their top agents, should go out and check on them. Since she is the only one out of them who had any personal connection with any of the Egyptian operatives, she apparently was seeing Mo at some point," she sounded skeptical about that. Considering how, up until the sector H agents contacted her, she assumed Mo from sector E was gay. Rachel caught on but shrugged it off, Fran continued, "Maxine took the photos you are now holding and immediately returned to home base. She emailed those to me recently with the proper paperwork and this…" she lifted the tube, "This came in express delivery." Franny's voice shook a bit.

Rachel set the photos aside and stared Numbuh 86 straight in her green eyes, "What's in the tube, 86?" she asked slowly, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

Fran swallowed, reaching over to where her Commander had put the pictures and lifted the one with a pink post it attached. She set it down and pointed to an area surrounded by a small black circle with an arrow pointing at it, "That," she said, almost in a whisper, "Is a mining drill."

Rachel was confused, "What are they mining?"

Franny lifted the tube and pushed a little red button on the side. The middle of the tube retracted and behind a little glass barrier sat a green stone. It wasn't glowing but it still sent shivers down Numbuh 362's spine. "Franny is that…" she didn't get to finish her question because Franny was already nodding a yes.

"This is the same stone, but in a bigger portion, that Numbuh 5 sent us earlier," she paused, "A.P.P.L.E… they're mining the stuff."

Rachel felt like all the air in her body was suddenly sucked out and thrown, wastefully into the deep recesses of space. She slumped down in her chair again and sighed, "Fuck."

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Nigel waved goodbye to Lizzie as she drove off, crying in a taxi. He hadn't meant to tell her everything that happened with him and Rachel. He didn't want to hurt her. He even tried explaining that it was a meaningless fling that would never be reincarnated but she wasn't having any of his excuses.

The look on her face, the sheer sadness of it, broke Nigel Uno's only beating heart into a million pieces. He just wanted to die because of it.

"Where's Lizzie going?" Kuki's voice suddenly came from behind him.

He quickly wiped the tears from his face and from beneath his glasses before she could see him in one of his most shameful moments. He had never intended for it to go this way when he finally fest up. He knew she'd be mad, that was to be expect, duh, but he hoped that she would forgive him and take into account his honesty. She didn't of course. She told him it was over between them and that she never wanted to see him again. That's when she packed up all her stuff and called for a taxi.

Nigel coughed and with the utmost of composure said, "We won't be seeing each other for a while." And then he waited for Kuki to break down and cry until he explained everything and made him cry with her.

"Bummer," she said almost immediately with a shrug, "Have you seen Wally?"

Nigel was slightly offended but thankful she didn't pursue the issue further, "No."

She looked around and then pouted, "Maybe he's down by the lake. Bye." And she ran off…

Just like that she ran off. She didn't stay to talk to Nigel, comfort him in his time of need. So he stood there, in shock, alone.

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_Squeak, squeak, squeak._

The right wheel of the wheelchair just wouldn't stop squeaky, no matter how many times he worked on it, and he took great pride in his work. _Maybe I should just replace it with a new wheel_, he thought to himself. He then sighed and slowed his roll a bit, _Wish I could replace my legs with new legs_.

He increased his speed, realizing that he had had all those thoughts before. A new wheel, new legs… they started to blend together after a while and only sink him further into depression. _Yeah, more depression medication, that's what I need_, he scoffed to himself.

Tommy Gilligan, now sixteen, rolled along, as he always did on Tuesday mornings, to the pick up spot for his doctor appointment. His parents were never home, work and all, so he had to get himself to the "bus station" where a TND medic shuttle would pick him up. He couldn't drive, even with the limited mobility of his legs, and most definitely hated asking his friends for a ride. The heat was unbearable in the summer and today was no exception. Sweat rolled down his back, off his arms and down his face, dripping onto his already sweaty soaked shirt.

He thought about calling Hoagie before he left, he knew where he was and why he was there. Before his brother had gone he explained everything to his little brother. Tommy wasn't young, nor was he naive, so he gave his brother two words of advice before hanging up, "Get help and come back better."

He knew something was up with he and Abby when they both came to a dinner his parents were having. Hoagie seemed fine enough but Abby was timid, and timid isn't even in her TND file as an attribute, never was and never had been. She was wearing this long sleeve shirt and long pants that she seemed to hate, her hat was pulled low over her face and every time Hoagie went to hug her she flinched—he still could never imagine her brother being a woman-beater. Disgraceful.

Of course he asked his brother why he did it, he had to, it was obviously a big deal and secret. Hoagie responded, "Because of what she did to you."

Tommy nearly hung up the phone right then and there. He took his goggles off so that his brother could see his eyes when he responded, "You listen to me right now, Hoagie," he started with a strained voice, "Abby didn't do this," –he motioned to the chair—"to me. The Toilenator did. She might be the only reason I'm alive right now. You should thank her." And Tommy meant what he said.

Hoagie scoffed it off with one of his typical "Yeah, yeah, yeah's," and a hand wave as though what Tommy said had no relevance to him whatsoever. "You were merely a trainee at the time. She was a pro." He stated.

Tommy remembered that day so vividly in his mind that he often wouldn't sleep for days because he was afraid of reliving the experience through memories. He sighed so loudly that he was afraid his parents heard, he lived at home since he was on suspension until his full mobility came back. He slammed a fist down on his desk and put his goggled back on, "Would rather she made the choice instead of trying to save us both?" he asked in almost a whisper.

Hoagie seemed to falter at the question, he never really thought about it. He didn't answer so Tommy said it again, this time louder, "Would you prefer that the bastard killed one of us?"

"No." Hoagie whispered, "I would have preferred her to be better."

Tommy would never deny that he looked up to his older brother, he always would and always had. But Numbuh 5 was the best at what she did, whether it was a mission or just a game she was often the best. Always had been and probably always will be.

"Tommy get off the phone!" a woman's voice said off screen.

Tommy looked back at his brother and sighed, "Numbuh 5 did what any good operative would have done. She tried to save both of us, Mushi and I," he felt his voice crack, "I highly doubt you or anyone in the TND, past or present, could have done better." And the screen went blank.

He hadn't spoken to Hoagie since then.

Finally, he sighed as he finally reached the spot for pick up. Getting there seemed to take years longer than normal and he was starting to get sick of going. He thought about cancelling but his progress has been so good lately. The doctors said his legs will be fully operational within months—of course they've said that for a year now. Tommy still had hope.

He pulled his backpack off the handles of the chair and decided to pull out a book while he waited. Ender's Game was what he packed, a classic. He found that reading was a great way to escape his own world and live in another one. He found solace in the science fiction novel's characters and improbable situations and comfort when little Ender felt comfort.

By the time the TND shuttle came for him he was lost in the futuristic world.

"Tommy," a voice called out to him, snapping him back to a painful reality, "Tommy Gilligan."

It was the operative from the medic shuttle, he was holding the door open so Tommy could get in. He must have been standing there for quite some time as he seemed a little frustrated. Tommy shoved the book back into his pack and smiled sorrowfully at the operative, "Sorry," he said. He scooted his way up the guy as he lowered the ramp so he could get into the shuttle.

Tommy hated ramps. He used to skate them. Butt-boarding, stomach-boarding, even snowboarding, now all he could to was wheelchair his way up there. There wasn't much enjoyment going down one, he was afraid of crashing and not being able to get back into his chair. Either way he had to get into the shuttle.

He closed his eyes the entire way up the ramp and didn't open them again until the operative had strapped his chair down and told the pilot to start up the shuttle. He hated this part of getting to the doctors.

The shuttle jolted and was hauled into the air with a screech. Tommy felt his stomach lurch and his breakfast threatened to come back for seconds. He swallowed it all back down and tried to calm himself. He couldn't start reading again, he had super bad motion sickness, and he hadn't packed a snack so he turned a decided to stare into space, literal space.

He watched the decreasing in size Earth and sighed, wishing he had never looked out of the window. The day the adults attacked he had picked what he wanted his skill to be. He had spent days decideding. Hoagie was pressuring for Tommy to become a 2x4 specialist like he was. Mushi was always cheering for him to go with her into the weapons field. He had always admired the way Wally kicked butt and there was always the option of being in the stealth operations group. So many to choose from and finally picked studying to become a pilot and aerial arts specialist. He was so excited. The mere thought of flying his own ship was enough to send him into epileptic shock. In essence he would still be like Hoagie, except better.

Now he didn't qualify for his TND certification because he could barely use his legs.

What _I wouldn't give to be able to use my legs_, he thought, _There is nothing_.

Minutes later the ship was docking at Moon Base's medical wing. The operative from before came and unhooked his chair and assisted in pushing Tommy down the ramp.

"Thanks, I got it from here," Tommy told the helpful, yet unwanted, operative. He had helped Tommy the last time and the time before that.

The operative took no offense, he'd gotten from Tommy before. "Alright, man. See you in a few."

Tommy rolled down the hallways, avoiding all the other doctors and patients, sticking to the paths marked with his doctor's name, Dr. Numbuh 62. He could probably find his way there blindfolded now-n-days.

The doctor was waiting for him by the door, typical doctor smile plastered to his face. He was younger than Tommy, fourteen at the oldest with a Mohawk at least a foot high. He wore no gloves, unsanitary, but what gave Tommy a weird impression every time he went for a check up was the fact that Numbuh 62 wore roller blades.

"Come in, come in, Tommy." He said as he slid into his office, ballerina-like.

Tommy did as he was instructed. He rolled next to the little paper-sheeted bed sitting in the middle of everything and lifted himself onto it, legs dangling off the sides as though he were a child. The doctor smiled and gave an approving nod, he could remember when it was a chore to get Tommy onto the examiner bed. With a chuckle Dr. Numbuh 62 addressed Tommy, "How have you been feeling lately?" he asked, sitting in a chair across form his patient.

Tommy smiled, "Swell. I've been working hard and I can even walk up stairs by myself now so…" he paused. He asked this question every time her went to the doctors and received the same answer, "When do you think I can rid of the chair?

The doctor did what always did, chuckled, smiled and then said, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Doctor Numbuh 62 got up from his chair and glided, slowly, over to where a small clipboard sat on his desk, Tommy's file. He flipped through it, gave a grunt, flip through it some more, nod and mumble to himself and then flipped through it again. After repeating the process another three times he sat the chart down and did something he never did before, he sighed.

This caught Tommy's attention instantly, "Wha…what is it."

The doctor slumped back into his chair, "What are your future plans with the TND?" he inquired.

Tommy didn't have to think about his reply, "Once I get my legs back, I'm going to get my certification to be a pilot." The answer was automatic, Tommy had thought and dreamed for many days and nights about the day the doctor said he could walk again.

But once again, Numbuh 62 sighed, "Tommy," the doctor said his name with an airy tone, "The progress you've made is astounding when you consider the amount of nerve damage in your lower spinal chord you took. Moving your toes should feel like a milestone to you," he said with a weak smile, "But the plain fact of the matter is that…"

Tommy held his breath.

"… there is no possible way that you will ever get full use of your legs back." He finished, sorrowfully.

Tommy seemed aghast by the statement, "But I just told you I could walk up a flight of stairs! By myself!" he yelled.

The doctor stood, "How long until you need your chair again afterwards?" the way the doctor said the words made it an almost statement, like he already knew the answer but needed Tommy to say it himself, to understand what he was saying.

Tommy said nothing thought he knew the answer. _Seconds, sometimes minutes_, he said to himself. He couldn't believe this. Years of hope flushed down a gigantic smelly toilet in mere seconds.

He thought today would be the day he got rid of the chair. He hoped today was the day he could take himself off the handicap list and put his name back on the roster. His hopes were shattered, dreams destroyed. He had no future with the TND.

"Tommy there are many stationary positions..."

"SAVE IT!" Tommy yelled. He didn't want to hear it.

He hopped back into his chair and rolled towards the door. The doctor called after him, "Tommy. This doesn't have to be a bad thing."

Tommy already had the door open by the time the doctor was done speaking. He turned his head, slightly, only so he could look at the doctor from the corner of his eye, "Say that again when your legs don't work and you can never roller blade again." He paused to watch the doctor's face go limp, "That's what I thought."

And then he left.

Tommy was rolling faster than he ever had before. All he wanted to do was get on the shuttle, get back to Earth and stay there, in his room, grounded. Every corner he rounded was like being in a Tokyo drift race, wheels spinning and squealing. He didn't much care, there were no people in the halls anyways.

_No people… _

Tommy slowed and listened.

No one was around. It was stone cold silent in the halls of the medic wing—it was never silent. There were always other people running around; doctors, nurses, trainees and patients. There wasn't a thing or a person anywhere. He continued on his way to the shuttle port being as quiet as possible.

At his last corner, Tommy sighed in relief. He could see the license plate of his shuttle still there, waiting for him. He rounded the corner with a smile on his face… that soon dropped once he saw nine figures, all dressed in B.R.A's, in front of him.

"Hello, Tommy," the one closest to him said. It had to a female, he figured, from how high-pitched it was, with the faintest traces of an accent. Japanese if he wasn't mistaken. She was holding an unconscious shuttle operative in one hand and an equally as conscious shuttle pilot in the other.

Tommy tried to put his chair in reverse to find that someone had blocked his way he was holding his chair, tight. He was starting to panic but still tried to hide that fact, "Who…"

The person made a card appear out of, what seemed like, thin air, held it for a moment and then flung it at Tommy. The small business-sized card landed neatly in his lap, face up and read, "Father needs you."

Tommy picked it up, "Father?"

"That's right, Tommy," she said, "He can fix you."

His ears perked up, even though he was ashamed for even listening to her, "Fix me? You mean he can… give me back my legs?" his voice cracked.

She giggled, "Yes, Tommy. Isn't being able to walk freely what you've wanted for years?"

Tommy was trying so hard to just tune her out but it's like her voice was drilling into whatever place it could just to get to him. He looked away and focused on the card, hard, so hard his palms were becoming sweaty and his eyes hurt. When he looked up again the person was standing over him, he hadn't even heard her move.

Her gloved hand reached out, he flinched away, and caressed his face, "Tommy," she whispered just his name, that's all she said, but it held so many feelings inside of it that it made Tommy slightly uncomfortable.

He looked at her and frowned, "Show me your face." He demanded.

She backed off a bit and started to chuckle again. She shrugged and with a thought, as all B.R.A's are designed, the helmet of the outfit reseeded.

Tommy's jaw dropped and everything seemed to flow in slow motion. Her chocolate brown eyes focusing upon him, her smooth, unblemished face, her long, black as night hair tumbling down until it reached the middle of her back. He couldn't believe she was standing before, walking at that. She no longer had the scar from A-Day over her left eyes. She looked good as knew.

"Mushi?" he whispered.

With that she addressed the other ninjas, "We did what we came here to do. The message has been given and received. Free the operatives and wake those up," she motioned at the shuttle operatives. She then turned back to Tommy and smiled, "He'll fix you, just like he did me. Join us."

Before Tommy could answer Mushi had reactivated her armor and ran off, the rest of her crew following. Seconds late her could see them all zooming off on their space cycles, back to earth through the shuttle port windows.

He looked down at his lap, the card was still there glaring at him. _Fix me_…

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**Sad stuff dude, sad stuff.**

**Read and Review.**

**((also this is the longest chapter now woooooo!))**


	13. It's not the same

**Yeah, yeah, I was going through some stuff. Keep your pants on and read!**

**Missed you all though!**

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was tedious, tiring work but after an hour and a half all the wood splinters, glass and various other pieces of debris were removed from Wally's back. There were quite a few times they feared they had lost the tweezers in how deep some of the gashes were. His eye had been iced down to the point where it was still black and blue but it was no longer swollen. The worst of his injuries, his broken nose, had to be reset, painfully. He screamed the entire time Abby was prepping to do it and for a long time after, she didn't mind.

Abby's injuries weren't anything to worry about,, the worst of it being her shoulder, where the chair had hit her. Other than that there were minor scratches and bruises around her neck and wrists. Nothing major.

Wally made sure that she was taken care of because, even though he couldn't remember exactly what happened, he knew it wasn't alcohol. He needed Abby to believe it was though. He needed her to believe that he would never hurt her on purpose.

Once they were both patched up they agreed it was time to clean what was left of Abby's room. It took a little while but the dancing to music and constant joking around made the labor bearable and go by quicker. The managed to fix both the chair and the bookcase but they slowly came to the realization that the blood stains in her beige carpet just would not come out without professional help or a replacement—so they moved on to the last piece of the room.

They both stared at it, from opposite sides of the room where they were working and froze in place. It was the centerpiece of the room, barely tarnished from the battle really. All they had to do was fix the sheets, blankets and put the pillow cases back on straight, no big thing. Yet somehow it was the biggest thing in the room.

"Aw shit, Chad, we'll miss it!" one of the teen ninjas beckoned to his commander, in full gear, as they were required to be in for contacting Father. He, along with the entire rest of the group, sat in front of the monitoring screens, waiting for Father to call. Missing one meant punishment, harsh, cruel, punishment. Not that anyone missed one without good reason, mind you, conversations with Father were usually quite… scantilizing. Moving. Passionate.

Chad had been messing with the cables and such around the t.v's earlier in order to plug in his X-box 360 and forgot how to put it all back. With the time nearing for Father he was getting nervous and the wires just seemed to blur together at some point. However, after about two hours of dedicated work, he finally got the correct wires in their correct slots.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it already, chill out." Chad waved off his ever increasing in annoyance comrades and took his place at the forefront the group, next to Cree. He activated his B.R.A and with a hopeful glance at his girl, put his arm around her—he prayed Father was happy with the footage he sent.

The crew waited. Some of them were nervous, other of them were first timers and didn't know what to expect. Most of them were bouncing in anticipation. Cree was a different story. She had been a loyal servant of Father's from the start of A.P.P.L.E. She, more than anyone, knew what wrath he could bestow if he wanted, she had fallen victim to it many times before. There were still scars to prove that.

She huddled closer to Chad, hoping her nerves would calm down a bit more. It honestly helped—but not by enough. She sighed, knowing no one had heard her through her armor.

The screens flickered, everyone went rigid.

His voice came through before the visual had, "My children," he spoke, his voice like milk chocolate sliding into everyone's' ears, rich, tasty, sweet.

Everyone was at full attention towards the screen. Not one eye was turned away from the screen. Not one breath was out of sync with the others around him or her. All faces were basking in the light coming off the screen with no hope of turning away. They were hypnotized.

Father's face was contorted in a fit of pleasure, his teeth surrounding the stem of his pipe. He held a green folder in his hand and waved it about happily, "You have all done well." He said with a laugh that made everyone's' spines go ridged, "I could not have done better myself. The alcohol was," his eyes settled on Cree, "Clever."

Without realizing he did, Chad pulled Cree closer. It was like he was mad Father even dared look at his girl, but that would be stupid, Father was the boss after all. Cree is his best solider.

Cree cleared her throat, thrusting Chad's arm off of her shoulders and stepped forward, "We can begin work with SD-DN1 immediately."

Father poked his chin, contemplating, for a moment. "Hm," he said in a long drawn out way that left everyone of his ninjas on the edges of their seats. He puffed his pipe once. Then again. And then a third time before throwing his hands in the air and saying, "Fuck it."

"What?" came a chorus of ninjas.

"Yeah. I decided to test that one my self… it wasn't fun. Enjoy your vacation."

And then the screen went blank.

The teen ninjas were left confused and feeling a little unfulfilled.

Cree stared at the blank screen even when her squad begin filing out of the room, all of them displeased with Father's lack of conviction for the mission he had given them. She was more confused than displeased, but she decided to follow his orders and enjoy her vacation. She only got so many days to herself now.

Abby and Wally looked at the bed, both looked slightly uncomfortable as the stood and watched the other. Abby clicked her tongue a few times and then turned away from the highly awkward scene to face the doorway. She took in a deep breath and spoke gently, "I'm going to go downstairs to make sure everything is on the up and up," she said before hurriedly running out of the room and down the stairs.

Things had gotten to weird. Things had gone to far. Thing were to crazy, how did she let these things happen. She was Numbuh 5 for goodness sakes. She was the one who kept her head when other people got into stupid situations, not the other way around. She was the voice of reason within sector V. She was the cool, calm and collected one so why, she wondered with every step she took, was she getting into this irreversible situation with her childhood friend?

The thought of Kuki finding out was unbearable to say the least. Kuki was her friend, one of her only girl friends and she had betrayed her more than once. Abby groaned. If Numbuh 3 found out she would be crushed and probably never forgive her. Hoagie was different story all together, he might actually commit murder.

Now on the second floor, Abby slowed her brisk walk to a stroll and tried to relax. She had to stop it all. The flirty glances in hallways, the "accidental" touches in elevator and while chilling with the group, the dreams—oh yeah, the dreams had to stop.

It all had to just be hormones going ary, right? There is no way that they could feel that way about each other with the stone having been discovered. Without the stone none of this would have happened, right? They were just video game buddies and that was all. That's all they ever have been and that's all they can be. But what if…

No, she couldn't think about the what if's of the situation. She was with Hoagie and he was getting help. How suckie would it be if he came back all normal, walked into her room with flowers and bright eyes only to find Wally half naked sleeping with her. How unprogressive would it be if she sent Hoagie a letter saying how she was no longer interested because she had found someone better…

Better? She wondered if Wally was better…

"Hey there, space case." A familiar voice snapped her out of the trance she was in moments before.

Abby looked up and smiled at the almost reflection like face before her, "Hey Cree." She droned out, still not really there.

Cree shifted her weight to one side and put one hand on her hip, the other bringing a lollipop to her mouth. She sucked on it a little before pulling it out and staring at her sister with a hardened expression. "I know that face, little sister," she almost sounded joyful, "That's the I-have-boy-trouble look."

Abby should have known she couldn't pretend in front of Cree of all people. There must have been several signs her sister picked up that no one else could or would. In defeat she sighed and nodded a yes. Cree wasted no time in grabbing her little sister by the elbow and dragging her down the hall, "To the gym!"

The gym, located in a subbasement of the house that both Cree and Abby agreed not to show the rest of their team members as it would always be crowded. Their parents wasted no space as every inch of it was decked out in mats, bag, weights, and other equipments at their disposal. They would always go to the gym whenever they needed to have a rare, but sometimes needed, sister moment. So off they went, pausing only a Cree's room for a set of workout clothes and the kitchen for two water bottles. Once in the basement they navigated themselves through the hoard of A.P.P.L.E agents towards a secret room that none of them were allowed to go into. Cree's people thought it was a secret servalence room and the T.N.D agents were told that it was just a broom closet—who wants to clean?

"Cree," Abby said to her sister as they both shoved themselves into the room and turned on the light. It really did just resemble a broom closet, minus the brooms, mops, buckets and other cleaning supplies. Cree went over to one of the adjacent walls and pushed an almost invisible square button that was painting the same dingy gray as the walls. They both faltered a bit as the entire room began to move downward towards the subbasement.

"Abby," Cree responded in a mock worried tone to make fun of Abby's quivering voice. She meant no harm by it, hat was just how they were with each other.

Abby sighed and then gave light chuckle, "Well aren't you going to ask?"

The room stopped moving and they both had to steady themselves as the entire thing shook violently. Cree hit the wall next to her, not hard, just to emphasize her point that, "Mom and dad really need to check the gears on this thing. It could fall apart at anytime and I don't want to be in here when it does."

The door opened to reveal a large space full of different kinds of exercise equipment and walls lined with mirrors. Both Lincoln girls stepped out and in almost synchronized execution begun stretching themselves out. They hopped in place a bit, rolled their necks and did some toe touches, anything to loosen themselves up for what was about to happen.

Cree went over to the wall and turned on the sound system, "So what do you want to listen to?" she asked, music was crucial at this point.

Abby thought about it and said, "Hit me up with some Rise Against."

The Good Left Undone suddenly came pouring out of the massive sound system, engulfing them in sounds meant spark something inside of them. Cree joined Abby on the floor and continued to stretch next to her little sister. "Hair tie?" Cree offered to Abby.

Abby smiled and took it, tying the many braids off her hair back into a high ponytail that reached the middle of her shoulder blades. They spent the next two minutes in complete emersion of the music, it was one of Abby's favorite songs by one of Abby's favorite bands and she really just wanted to drown in it.

Cree suddenly piped up, "So uh, why the hairstyle change? I mean, I like it but…"

"Wally said I'd look good with braids," she interrupted, "He was right. Plus they don't frizz up and I don't have to do anything in the morning really. Get up and go." Then she laughed a little not really knowing why.

Then more silence as the song Forever by Papa Roach came on. The went through the entire song still stretching. Abby was becoming frustrated, they never spend this long stretching. She stood and put her hands on her hips, staring straight at Cree, "Why won't you just ask and get it out of the way?" she yelled.

Cree stood up slowly, feeling every muscle in her body expand and contract as she did. She looked her sister in the eye and smiled, "I'm not asking because I'm waiting for you to just say it. Take out the middle man."

Abby turned away from Cree, not that it mattered because there were mirrors everywhere so she could still see the almost pleased look on her sisters face. That lopsided smile and the way she balanced all her weight on one side. She crossed her arms and did the same hip thing, completely different emotions displayed on the sisters, and rolled her eyes, "I don't what the fuck I'm doing." Abby suddenly said.

"Go on." Cree urged.

With a sigh she did, "Wally, he's just so fun, like, I can be myself with him and would never judge me for anything. One minute we can be playing video games, then we could go out to a nice dinner, then we could,"

"Be doing the horizontal mambo." Cree chimed in fully knowing that she was spot on with her comment. Abby didn't even bother trying to deny it, Cree knew everything about her without even asking.

"I feel… good when I'm with him."

"Are you talking about the sex or in general?" Cree laughed.

Abby wasn't laughing though, this was serious business, "I know I should end everything between us, go strictly friendship but its harder to do than to say."

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

Cree came closer to Abby, "Why should you have to stop what you have with Wally? I know the kid is an idiot but if he makes you happy then why end it?"

Abby looked at Cree like she was stupid, "HELLO! Hoagie Gilligan, Kuki Sanban… ringing any bells to you?"

Cree scoffed, "If you were actually happy with Hoagie, and I know you weren't and haven't been for sometime now, then you wouldn't have had these feeling for the Aussie let down." She paused to look at Abby's face, "Same goes for him, ya know?"

Abby cursed herself for brightening at that last part but she did, she smirked and, without meaning to, giggled ever so quietly. Her arms unfolded and sagged to her sides, "I don't know… I feel like none of this would have happened if not for…" And then she remembered the lake house truce. If she brought up the green stone she'd be in violation so she quickly recoiled and heaved out a heavy breath. "Whatever."

Cree sensed that whatever she was about to say was something bad or having to do with A.P.P.L.E so she let it go and patted her sibling on the shoulders, "So what do you think. Is this a punching bag sort of situation or a run until you puke situation?"

A moment passed, Abby sighed and came to the conclusion that the situation was more serious than the other reasons she'd been down there before, "Lets do some bag work." She said.

Cree immediately stood and walked over to a wall with a bunch of hooks with things on them and pulled down their punching bag gloves. Cree's gloves were blue with a her name written across the knuckle area in gold, Abby's were red with her name in the same area in gold. They wrapped their hands and gloved up, preparing to pummel the stuffing out of the punching bags. "Let's do this."

"Cruddy bed… cruddy tucking the covers under the mattress… cruddy crud crud!" Wally mumbled under his breath as he finally got started on the task of making the bed. He hated making the bed whether it was his or not.

Once everything was tucked in and the pillows fluffed and in place and let himself fall into the bed. It was soft, he noted, like laying on a giant marshmallow. His entire body relaxed into the downy covers and he felt himself slip, not into sleep, but into something between complete absence of mind and absolute clarity. He looked back on when his childhood, coming from Australia to the U.S and joining the KND. He remembered meeting everyone in his sector for the first time. Bald Nigel, tubby Hoagie, crazy Kuki and a cool Abby, they were all so awesome to him and that drove him to be better. He remembered actually getting to know them and coming to love them all as really good friends. He remembered a few missions where Abby had to swoop down and save his scrawny tail. He remembered how every time she did it, it was the coolest thing he had ever seen because she did it with some flair and style, like a real life video game character.

He remembered when the group finally convinced him to ask out Kuki. He was sweating bullets in a tux that was far to big for him, but he hadn't hit his growth spurt yet and that was all he had to work with. He spent hours in his tree house room brushing his hair, putting on cologne and popping pimples. He was talking to himself in the mirror when Abby came in with a bouquet of flowers that even he knew was beyond beautiful. She set them down on his bed and then walked over to him with the prettiest smile on her face. He couldn't tell if that smile was for him or because Hoagie had asked her out hours before.

"Hey," she said simply.

Wally didn't even turn around as he could see her in his mirror, "Hey."

She came up slowly behind him and tousled his hair, the hair he had just spent an hour making perfect. As he began to freak out she quickly cut him off by running her hands through his hair slowly. His breath caught at the sudden change of sensation. She chuckled, "You look fine, Beatles," she whispered in his ear but kept eye contact with him through the mirror.

He smiled and nodded, "Thanks."

About an hour later he stumbled downstairs, found Kuki, asked her to be his girl and then handed her the flowers. She cried and hugged him so hard he thought his lungs would burst.

That's who he was with, happy, bubbly, always cherry Kuki Sanban. Not Abby.

With what felt like lead limbs he hoisted himself out of that bed and out of the room, being in the middle of where everything went down was too much for his brain at the moment. He went down the stairs, not really paying attention to the others that were bustling about the house. It was to chaotic for him, not worth his time.

He made he way out through the back door that had a path leading down towards the lake. Long and windy, a dirt path that was littered on the edges by beautiful flowers and full trees that looked to vibrant to be earthly. He ran his hand along the many species of vegetation and thought, hard, about what he was going to do about the entire situation.

Abby and Kuki are two different types of people. Kuki is so energetic, which is fine, but most of the time its just annoying to him. Abby is so cool and calm and collected, which he liked a lot.

Wally finally reached the lake as sunset set in. The lake was dark and the so the landscape surrounding it giving everything an almost eerie orange glow. He didn't mind the lack of visual as it was quiet, he could think without hearing random squabbles or the banter of drunks in the living room. It was just peaceful.

He stood by the edge of the lake, staring at his fading reflection and the distant glow of the house lights high up on the hill.

And he stared.

And stared.

And stared.

Stared until he couldn't see anything in the dark lake water anymore because the sun had disappeared. Wally then sat, pilled off his shoes and socks and then shoved his feet into the cool water. "Ah," he sighed loudly into the empty forest that surrounded him. He let himself unclench and seemingly melt into the water and dirt underneath him. He let his head sag backwards so that he was looking up at the nights sky, stars twinkling and the warm night air blowing through his hair.

Wally slowly let his eyes shut as he really started to let himself go and enjoy his surroundings. No sounds other than the chirping of crickets the whooshing of the breeze through the tree leaves. Nothing to feel other than the cool water, soft grass and complete serenity. No one around…

"WALLY-POO!"

…Except for Kuki.

His eyes snapped open to abruptly his surrounding were still blurry after a few seconds. He didn't dare turn to look at the oncoming train of energy but he could hear her running straight for him.

"Wally!" she paused only to take in a deep breath and calm her panting, "I've been looking all over for you all day, boogy loo bear! Where have you been?" she asked him, arms wrapped around his neck.

Wally sighed and turned his gaze to the lake he couldn't see and wished he could jump in and just disappeared for a while. But it was true, he hadn't seen her for almost an entire day and that was not good boyfriendery—not that he had been being a good boyfriend lately, cheating on her and all. He reached up and grabbed on of her hands with his own, holding it for a while before saying, "I'm sorry, Kuki, I was helping Abby with some things earlier…" he immediately loathed himself for saying her name, "What have you been up to all day?"

Kuki unwrapped herself from his neck and sat, cross-legged, next to him. She shrugged, "Well, I woke up out in who knows where land this morning, went in search of you, found Nigel parting ways with Lizzie and then continued my search until I found you here by the lake all by yourself." She spoke so fast there was a lag in her speaking and Wally comprehending what she said.

"Oh."

Kuki looked at Wally thoughtfully, "Is there something wrong, Wally?"

He didn't answer. Kuki leaned in closer to Wally and gently brushed his cheek, "Baby, I'm here if you want to talk. I'm…"  
Wally grabbed her hand and pulled her in, his lips and her lips colliding with so much force in knocked him backwards but the kiss continued and grew. His hands were running through her hair, her hands through his hair. Kuki straddled him and sat up, "Wally! Here?"

All he had to do was nod before she came crashing back to him, every appendage of their bodies working towards the goal. Kuki was moaning before her dress had even come off, Wally on the other hand—things just didn't feel as good to him.

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**Once again, I found this chapter hard to write, can't fathom why though.**

**Hit the button and review it.**


	14. Morning

**Sorry for the short scenes. This chapter is my lead into a very long one that I'm almost done with so.... READ!**

**Also: thank you to Erato son of Zeus and Athena for threatning me into updating. YOU ARE SO NICE!!!**

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Morning. Early mornings are the quietest times of the day, that time when everything is still and calm. The time where only birds and insects can be heard. Wally awoke in a bedroom on the third level of the house, he knew this only because he had seen this room before. He had been in this room before.

He panicked. Why was he in this room? And then he remembered. Kuki found him by the lake, they started making out and then Kuki wanted to move the fun to somewhere more private. It was dark, he couldn't tell where she was leading him, partially because the whole time her face was glue to his. _Damn_, he said to himself. He knew that somehow he had crossed a line and that there would be repercussions for it, whether they happened now or later. And he was scared.

He tried to sit up, run away from the room but he was stopped by the dead weight of a sleeping Kuki. She looked so peaceful. Her cream colored skin so smooth and flawless, her jet black hair fanned around her body, she was so doll-like.

Wally slowly lay back down, putting his hands behind his head and tried to relax. _I'm so dead_, he cringed as he put a face to the room, _or am I?_ I mean this is a very natural thing for couples, sex. No matter where it is had. So the only thing to mad about is the fact that we did it here and not the fact that we did it.

Rationalizing himself was almost as tiring as the act itself. The truth of the matter was that Wally didn't know if he felt right or not. He didn't wake up with the same vigor, it didn't even feel as great as when he was with…

Not that it mattered now. Once Abby found out she would be furious and probably castrate him.

With a snort, Kuki stirred and then curled into a ball on the opposite side of the now messed up bed, the bed Wally had put so much time and energy into making the previous afternoon. It took him seconds to have his clothes back on and out the door, flying down the stairs to anywhere that would be safe until he sorted through his thoughts. Anywhere he could just breathe.

"So how does that make you feel, Mr. Gilligan?" A fourteen year-old TND psychiatrist sat opposite Hoagie on a large throne-like chair. He scribbled furiously on the little yellow pad of paper in his hands as he listened Hoagie drone on and on about his troubles.

Hoagie lay down on a lounging chair, red and plush, fingers laced and thumbs twiddling. He had his goggled pulled over his eyes even though they were closed, focused on going back in time and pulling out whatever he could to tell the doctor so he could help himself out of the ward. With a deep breath he answered, "It makes me angry… jealous."

"Mhm," the good doctor scribbled on his paper again, "So you think Numbuh 4, Wally as he is informally known as, is after your girlfriend?"

"I don't think, I know." Hoagie replied, "I've seen the way he's looked at her for years but he's never acted on it. But I've noticed a change in his eyes," he slowly sat up on his lounging beach, "Yes, somehow whatever he was feeling intensified ten fold recently." He was shaking and on the brink of yelling, scaring his doctor into standing up and slowly backing away from his patient. Hoagie ripped the goggles off his face and threw them somewhere across the room, "But Abby wouldn't… couldn't feel the same way! There is no way! She is mine! She is MINE! SHE! IS! MINE!"

The doctor whispered into a mini microphone attached to the collar of his tweed jacket, "Security."

Within seconds a team of people dressing all in white came bursting through the door. While the majority of them went and tackled the still be-crazed Hoagie to the ground one security nurse prepared a sedative. "Sir, the subject has been secured!" one yelled.

And with the utmost of ease the needle-bearing nurse plunged the tip into Hoagie's thick neck. It took only seconds for Hoagie to go from livid to lucid and fall limply onto the floor.

The nurse brandishing the needle shook his head, "It is doubtful that this one will go back to his team anytime soon. He's too far gone."

"A little faith please," the psychiatrist said jokingly, "No one is above help."

"We'll see." And then he joined his team in carrying Hoagie back to his cell, wondering if what he said was in fact to harsh or just a sad truth.

Abby sat on the dock that lead inward towards the still waters of the lake, he feet hanging off the edge and not quite touching the water. She was leaning back on her elbows, face towards the sky and inhaling deeply. The morning air was chilly but crisp, waking her up from the groggy state she had found herself in as she staggered her way from the house, down the hill and to the lake. She wasn't exactly in the best mood.

She heaved out a sigh that was so deep it cooled her insides before letting it go. There was nothing to take the image of Wally and Kuki sleeping in her bed from her memory. Nothing, except for total amnesia… and how hard is that to accomplish really? That fact that she had just contemplated giving herself amnesia sunk her further into the depths of her own thoughts. She sighed again, what she wouldn't do for a distraction at the moment.

The sight from only moments before seemed to be burned into her mind. Kuki wrapped around Wally like a parasitic vine, in her bed. She scoffed as the vivid memory of her walking in on them came back and tried to surpress it with something less offensive to her. But did she have a right, she wondered, to be offended. The dilhema that has been plaguing her for the last few days was now a constant nagging in the back of her brain. Wally wasn't hers to be jealous over. He was a meaningless fling. He is Kuki's boyfriend.

Yadda, yadda, yadda…

Same ol' song played to a different tune each time she thought about it. She did have a right to feel disrespected though, she noted. They probably had sex in her bed, meaning they should be the ones to clean it and rid it of their stank and whatnot. She smiled, the word stank made her laugh a little on the inside despite the current issues at hand.

Her thoughts flicked to Hoagie, so brief and fleeting that she was suddenly stricken with the disntinct feeling of regret. She had barely thought about him and he left for her in the first place, to make their relationship better. She reckoned that his letters were starting to come in and pile up back at the tree house and she had never even thought about writing him a note, not once. Not even an email or a text—did he have his phone with him? It didn't matter.

As if on cue, Abby's phone began to vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and read the caller ID with much distaste, it was Wally. She pushed reject and slammed it into the dirt next to her. He could go jump in a frozen lake for all she cared at that point. She wanted nothing to do with him, he had single-handedly managed to ruin her cool and she didn't know id she could ever truly get it back.

Her phone rang again. It was him again so she just let it ring. And ring. And ring until finally it stopped.

_That joker._

"Your message was delivered, Father," she spoke calmly into the monitor before her the bore her boss' blacked out face. She disengaged her BRA and shook out her long black hair that was coated in her own sweat. Despite feeling gross, she was proud. Her team had completed the mission and they had done it in less time than she thought. She had assumed that the TND could handle an invasion force of such a miniscule number. Then again, it was the medical wing and she was better than them now, better than them all now.

On the screen Father took a long drag from his pipe and puffed out two large clouds of smoke. He leaned back into his throne-like chair and chuckled, just loud enough for Mushi to hear, he was overjoyed with how things were turning out for him and A.P.P.L.E. It took everything in his power not to laugh hysterically into the vast emptiness of his mansion. He turned to wards the screen and gave Mushi a smile, "Well done my little Mushi, you do me proud." He told her.

"I can never repay you for what you've given me," she said almost regretfully, "My team is on our way back to the base. We will coordinate with the others from there. Mushi out."

The screen went blank.

From her chair in the middle of everything she could see that everyone was working diligently at their stations. She used to hate the ship she was in, it looked to much like the Star Trek ship and she was tired of all the nerds on the base hitting on her. At one point she realized that they had somehow gotten cameras into her living quarters. There were a lot of busted, bruised and broken limbs that night.

But she could not complain. The time she spent under Father's regime has been the most fun and excitement she has had in her life. They don't worry so much about following the rules as much as getting the job done. The ends justify the means, with A.P.P.L.E and that's how she liked it. Plus, they had fixed her. She was new and improved and wasn't slowing her roll for anyone any more. The paralysis she had gotten from the Toilenator incident was but a memory to her now. Sure, A.P.P.L.E coordinators have to make sure she is as far away from him as possible at any given time but that was his fault. She could give a flying rat's ass if he were to drop dead by her hand or by the TND's. She'd rather it be her hand that ended the bastard though.

"Captain Mushi." A voice snapped her from her fantasies of maiming the Toilenator and back to the terrible ship she was sitting. It was her lieutenant, a jacked up jock who went from the KND to A.P.P.L.E before she did. They had trained together, hung out together, used to bunk together and, hell, they had even slept together but Mushi only thought of him as her lieutenant—barely a friend. He, on the other hand, had feelings for her, feelings that he had professed and has tried to subdue ever since she rejected him.

She turned to him briefly before going back to watching the screens around her, "Yes, Ronnie?"

"Captain Beatles is on the phone for you," he started, almost nervous to be talking to her, "He won't leave a message. He insists that you talk to him… now."

Mushi turned back towards him, eyebrow raised and nostrils flared, "Well you tell him that he can wait a few hours until I'm back at the base to talk to me." She was at a harsh whisper now, trying not to yell.

That Joey Beatles, she recounted, always demanding shit when has shit to say. The younger of the boneheads was probably more annoying that the older one and that was hard to do by anyone's standards. They had hooked up a few times, it was whatever and he understood that it was nothing but pure, ravenous, totally empty sex. But when he wanted some tail, he called her. He demanded her was more like it. It had gotten so bad that in his commander position he was actually able to take her off missions and have her brought to him. She regretted ever getting with him in the first place.

But what could she do? She had gone on a binge of endless, passionless sex that had resulted in her making ties with people she never meant to. She was empty inside and the only thing she could do to take the edge off now and days was to relax with some company. Ugh, she scoffed herself, slut.

"Tell him I'll return his call as soon as we dock." She said in a calmer tone.

Ronnie stepped back slowly, fully aware of what the Commander wanted with Kuki, "Yes, captain."

Kuki watched him leave the bay out of the corner of her eye, sighing when he finally disappeared behind the double sliding doors. She hated what she had become almost as much as she loved the power she had acquired over the years. Stupid boys…

"Dinner is ready, Tommy!"

Tommy snapped out his daze, his room coming back to his sensed. The smell of old gym socks, the bright light of his computer screen, the sounds of noobs being pwned in world of warcraft—the feeling of his cold steel of his wheelchair. He put the joystick in his hand down on the computer desk and began the process of turning himself around towards the door, "Okay, ma, I'll be right down." He yelled back.

Rolling over carpet was hard enough without the new Persian carpet his mother put in the hallway. After an extreme workout he made it to the stairs, where he hooked himself into the carrier and was slowly taken down the stairs. The hooking apparatus got snared on his shirt at some point, causing a bit of difficulty when he tried to unhook himself. Tommy cursed, loudly.

His parents, dad far more plump than his mother, came running to his aid, something he had grown to both expect and loathe. The took one look at him, then looked at each other with the same sympathetic look and then went to pull his clothing from the gears of the machinery. The entire time Tommy couldn't help but think about the car in his pocket. It felt like it was the only signifigant thing on him at the moment.

I won't call, he told himself, I won't sink to that level.

So he sat at the table with his family, minus Hoagie of course, listening to their pointless adult drabble. They talked about their day, work, shared some funny stories about their co-workers. They knew absolutely nothing of what was going on outside their own existence and it somewhat sickened him to know that someday he may be as useless as his parents. He blew a long, exhausted sigh into his mashed potatoes.

"Oh," his mother turned to him, surprised, as though she forgot he was sitting there for the last thirty minutes, "Tommy, honey, how was your appointment today? Anything new?" she asked him.

"Fine," he said, lying through his mash potato covered teeth. He let those words settle in the air before his parents stares finally forced him to say something else, more uplifting, "He says I'm making progress." The smile he gave them after his statement was nothing short of fake and forced onto his face.

His mother was delighted to hear such a thing, he saw this bright as day on her chubby face and felt bad for lying so much, giving her so much hope.

Once a stone cold silence had settled on Tommy it was like something just snapped within him. He didn't want to lie anymore. He didn't like the look his mother got on his face when he lied and told her everything was okay. He did not like getting stuck on the lift or accidently rolling down the stairs when he's to drowsy to know exactly where he's going at 2am. He didn't want to have to go to the TND medic wing every weekend and receive the same pathetic stare form his doctor anymore. He hated it all.

He pushed himself away from the table so hard that it shook and the glasses of milk his mother had set for him had tipped over. As he wheeled himself from the room his father called out to him, "You okay, son?"

Tommy paused just long enough to get the sentence out of his mouth, "I just have a call to make."


	15. They Know

**Hey guys! So, obviously this took me forever and a day to update but I'm back, again. I'm making it a personal goal of mine to finish this so, stay tuned if you please! Let this wet your whistles!**

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"Why won't she answer?" He kept asking himself the same question over and over as he continued to dial Abby's number repeatedly into his phone. Never getting an answer. He had come to memorize her voice message though. _Hey guys, this is Abby. I'm obviously not available or I would have answered my phone. Leave a message and I'll hit you back. Maybe. Not if you're Cree. Cree, I know you stole my shirt. Bitch._ He laughed the first few times, it was funny, but after hearing it for the twentieth time in a row he just felt angry. Angry and Dirty.

He dialed again. Hey guys…

"FUCK!" he ended the call and shoved his phone into his pockets.

It was night out now, he hadn't seen her all day and if she did not want to be found, he knew there was no way of finding her. She was the best of the best at stealth, everyone knew that in the TND. He had perched on the balcony of a room that no one had seemed to find during their stay. He only remembered it because he had seen Abby come from behind the hidden door in the wall once upon a time.

The room was small and dark, exactly what he wanted. The walls were covered in old pictures of Cree and Abby, there were some Chad pictures too. He came across a variety of pictures of the team and various other past KND operatives. He found pictures of him as well, some of them had construction paper hearts around them and others had giant red X's or devil horns drawn on. There was no bed, no lights and no bathroom, just a small square room with a sofa in the middle and small coffee table with photo albums in it. The only light that could be gained from within the room came from candles, of which he had not lit up so only moon light from the tall, rectangle window filtered in behind him.

He came to realize that this must be Abby's secret thinking spot. At first he felt as though he had walked into her diary and violated it. He just felt like he should not have seen anything inside and he felt guilty for it but at the same time, he knew that eventually she would have to return. She would need her thinking space, she would eventually have to come in here.

Wally looked at the hookah sitting on the opposite corner of where he sat. He had lit it up and hit it a few times but he couldn't shake the feeling of violation he brought to the balcony. The first time he had tried hookah was with Abby, and because of everyone elses' view on it, they kept it a secret and only did it sporadically. He wished he could have hit it with her.

Hours went by. He watched the moon and stars change their positions in the sky and wondered when and where Abby was. A horrible thought cross his mind—maybe she went back to the base earlier than everyone else. That would kill him inside.

...

Young Abby stood there dumbfounded. Her baseball cap seemed so much heavier than it had two moments earlier when she burst through the doors. What was the Toilenator talking about, life and death? She unknowingly had taken a step back. The crazed look in the villain's eyes was scaring her but she was young back then, she couldn't tell the difference between big talk and serious trouble very well.

He raised his hands and with it came two toilet paper strands, seeming alive, that shot of to the ceiling and pulled at something up there with a great amount of effort. The sounds of twisting metal and breaking wooden soon filled the air around them. Abby dove out of the way of a falling panel of wood and raised her guns at The Toilenator.

"Tommy, Mushi!" she yelled over the racket and falling debris, "Get out of here and get Hoagie and Kuki!"

Mushi, previously huddled in a corner covering her eyes and pigtails from the falling splinters, looked up and nodded. She had understood and was making her way through the room on her hands and knees. Tommy, however, had disappeared somewhere. Abby looked around wildly and frowned through the, now very large, pieces of wood and glass falling down on her. She fired a warning shot at her enemy. "You're bringing the house down in a bad way, man!"

She continued to look around, Tommy was still missing. Luckily Mushi was still making her way towards the door. Abby took a steadying breath and found herself locking eyes with the Toilenator. The crazy was still present but something had shifted. The Toilenator was known, not notoriously so, for being a bit off kilter. He was known for being a training exercise because everything he did was ill-thought out, half-baked and stupid. He is like a giant baby and described as such in all of his TND files. In his crazy, possessed eyes, there was triumph. There was a confidence that she had never seen in any of her encounters with him and she had to concede that she did, in fact, feel fear.

The grip on her laser gun tightened.

...

A brown haired boy came flying through the room, crashing into the bookcase next to Chad's desk and fell, unconscious, to the floor. His limbs looked disjointed, like that of a rag doll's and he could nothing but chuckle at the sight. He had told that boy, his name was Paul or something, earlier to go to Cree's office and hand her the bad news about the mining efforts. She had talked to Mushi moments after receiving the paper work and chewed her out. Immediately following that phone call, she phoned Joey Beatles. For all intensive purposes, Joey wasn't an A.P.P.L.E agent but he wasn't TND either. Strictly speaking, trusting him with the information was a big risk but, with the large sum of money Father was giving him for sending TND false information, he could be trusted.

Cree came through the hanging planks that had once been a door, rage written all over her face. Nostrils flaring she stomped up to Chad's desk and flung all of the little trinkets off of the wooden surface. He let her do it, even remained calm when she picked up and flung all of the paperwork he had been reading over for the last two hours behind her. He watched it fall like large square snowflakes and settle into the red dirt covered floor. Having been in Egypt for a couple weeks now he was used to his office always being covered in a thin layer of dust.

"I see you have received the news." Chad said with a smirk.

"Cut the shit!" she slammed both palms onto the desk and found herself very close to spitting. "What do you mean _they know?_"

Chad stood up slowly to address the issue. He walked around the table, hopping over his messenger boy to get to a position where he could speak to Cree on a calming, level plane. He pressed his palms together and placed the over his lips as he prepared to speak. He had expected this reaction, nothing surprised him. "Some brats from TND came to check on the base and our people were…" he paused, "Not prepared for a fly over."

Cree's eye twitched, "Not prepared?" her chest was heaving, Chad found himself staring, "We ran drills for this! We have a list of different protocols for this very occurrence and no one remembered what to do?"

Chad touched her shoulder gently, "The one's who were on duty that day have been punished accordingly,"

"That haven't been punished by me," Cree interjected, "Ergo, not accordingly."

With a sigh Chad seemed to collapse onto his desk. He hated when Cree got all riled up, well, in this way. He debated on even letting her know this soon. "If you wish to further discipline them,"

"I DO!"

"They are being held in the lower level of the base's vehicle bay."

It took everything in her power not to go stomping out of the room with an animalistic snarl on her face. She didn't like looking crazed in front of her troop, vulnerable. She took a deep breath and asked the question that Chad really hoped she wouldn't think of, "Where's the Beatles kid?"

Chad faked surprise, "Oh! I'll contact him at once."

She turned heel and tugged at her tank top, "See to it that you get a hold of him. I have words that need to be said."

"As you wish, m'lady."

She turned to him for a second and flashed a smile that let him know that she had released enough rage to go out in public, "Shut up." She told him before strolling out of the room and turning down the hallway.

As she disappeared from sight Chad let out an audible sigh. He hadn't been able to get in contact with Joey Beatles for a few days now. He was AWOL and it was Chad's duty to monitor him. Something was a miss. Something was very wrong and he couldn't put his finger on it.

...

"Mr. Gilligan." The psychiatrist spoke in a soft, drone-like voice. "Mr. Gilligan, please wake up, it's time for your daily session."

Hoagie tried to wake up but they had been increasing his dosage a little bit everyday to counteract how is body was building of a rapid tolerance to the numbing medication. Maybe they were just using horse tranquilizers now, maybe even rhino tranquilizers. Hoagie giggled at the image his mind had crafted of him as a baby rhino running free in the wild African Sahara. Or wherever rhino's lived. He didn't know. He didn't care.

Hoagie didn't care about a lot of things these days. He was either half awake or sleeping. The only time he spoke was during his daily sessions and even then all that came out were senseless drabbles laced with incoherence. He was a drooling mess. A vegetable minus the immobility. Being here had given him a chance to work on his anger and the best solution they had come up with was to completely erase everything and build up from there.

"Mr. Gilligan," the shrink called again, this time standing up and waving his fancy pen in Hoagie's face, "Your day. How was your day?"

Hoagie gave a dopey smile with droopy eye lids. He pointed to the ceiling and said, "I drew stars on the roof."

The doctor went to write something and then stopped abruptly, "Excuse me?"

"My room, they are on the roof of my room. The stars." Hoagie reiterated.

He looked awkwardly large in the counseling chair, it was almost humorous how his long limbs and bulky body hung over the sides and ends. "Interesting."

There was a pause in the conversation where Hoagie began to hum a tune in his head. The doctor had heard it before, it seemed to be Hoagie's go to tune when in counseling. He let his patient finish the last bar before pressing on with questions. "So, Mr. Gulligan, we spoke last time of your aversion to Numbuh 4."

Hoagie smiled and began to hum the tune again.

"Number 4 is quite the agent, Mr. Gilligan. Is it possible that you are just feeling a bit insecure…"

The doctor took notice of the sudden silence that ensued after his comment. Hoagie went ridged and stopped his singing. His body began to tremble and although he was pumped full of various drugs he managed to turn his face a deep red color. "Never say that again." He managed to squeeze out before falling victim to the rainbow and lollipops feeling of the drugs again.

After a quick note the doctor continued, "I wonder if this issue with him might just be a personification of a fear you have."

Abby.

"Maybe you don't feel as thought your relationship with Numbuh 5 can withstand the temptations he brings on. He's an avid gamer, she's an avid gamer,"

Abby.

"She and Numbuh 4 are often in the field together while you're up in the ship on on base working out a new machine,"

Abby. His Abby.

"Numbuh 5 is quite the fox. Not that I'd attempt anything, she's too much woman for me but Numbuh 4 has really sprouted."

HIS ABBY! Without warning, Hoagie began to scream at the top of lungs, his body flailing in the chair, various curses flying out of his mouth along with long mucus laden strings of spittle. It was unbearable. For him, he felt the weight of the drugs yet continued to try and push through them and that was causing an insurmountable amount of mental and physical strain. His brain told him to be calm and happy but his heart was letting him feel rage.

Soon white-gloved hands were grabbing at him. He wanted to fight them off but his body was just too weak. The shoved another needle into his thick neck. It took mere seconds for him to drift back in to the cold nothingness.

* * *

**So that was it for now. I'm on winter break so I promise to get a crap-ton of writing done while I'm being lazy lol. **

**Review and stuff. You know what to do. **


	16. Understand

**HEY! I UPDATED!**

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It's very strange being intoxicated in the dark with no idea where you are going. You would think that years of running the trail next to the lake would be enough to cause some form of muscle memory, but no, Abby was super lost with no hope of being found anytime soon. She took another swig of the sweet, nectar that was making all of petty problems seem so insignificant and sighed into the blackness. How fitting she should find herself in an unfaithful, unhealthy and failing relationship with Hoagie and in an adulterous, illicit and unhealthy one with Wally. Her stomach heaved, she was disgusted with herself.

Seriously, karma is a bitch, she realized on her walk. Years of preaching to others about how level headed she was. Years of being high and mighty over the subject of relationships and how they are just "not that hard." She chuckled to herself. The irony was not wasted on her in the slightest. She had allowed Hoagie to beat her for goodness sakes! She had been a victim, she, Numbuh 5, winner of some of the highest awards in KND, TND, and TND International history. How pathetic she had become to, she wondered as she took another swig.

The bottle was empty after one more large gulp and she threw it to the winds. The adultery was probably the worst part. She was not only hurting Hoagie, which she originally didn't mind, but she was also hurting Kuki. Sweet, sweet Kuki. Oh, how could she be so cruel? The two people in the universe she probably should have tried to never hurt again and she metaphorically fucked them over again. Cruel fate.

But it wasn't fair, she suddenly became enraged. In Abby's mind the universe had forced this. If fate and karma did not want her and Wally to become romantically involved then why would they put such harsh pre-existing factors in her way? Tommy and Mushi's incidents weren't even her fault! The Toilenator… that psycho ruined her.

But she had received two different awards for bravery and valiance after that, so how could she be in the wrong. The had wheeled Tommy out to present her with it and everything. The image tore at her insides and she gave a physical lurch. The sight of a beat up and battered Tommy, basically a smaller and leaner version of Hoagie at that point, rolling himself across a stage to present a valueless hunk of metal. It had been a great achievement back then—when everyone assumed Tommy would walk again and Mushi would wake up.

Abby bent over and threw up in some nearby bushes. Her eyes watered and she could have sworn some bile had come out of her nose.

Two weeks after the ceremony, Abby was sitting in her room at the Tree House Base when Numbuh 1 came running in, yelling something about Mushi going missing. By the time Abby had gotten into the conference room Mushi was throwing furniture and cursing (for the first time ever). As soon as she caught sight of Numbuh 5 she pointed, "This is your fault!" Kuki lunged for her but was immediately pulled back by Hoagie and Wally. They pinned her down. Abby stood their wide-eyed for a bit, bordering on tears when Nigel came and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, ushering her out of Kuki's sight.

Even to this day, Abby remembers all of the obscenities that came from Kuki's mouth and in her drunken stupor she heard them all echoing off the walls in her brain. They never found Mushi, though Abby is convinced that Father and his minions took her. She asked Cree about it but her older sister seemed to genuinely have no idea what she was talking about. The worst part about the whole ordeal was that about a year after the forced memory wipe of Mr. and Mrs. Sanban's memories of Mushi, Kuki filed for selective memory dispersal. She didn't want to remember her own sister, the pain was too much. Under the grounds that the file be backed up and saved in the event that Mushi was ever found, the Rachel, Numbuh 362, approved the memory wipe. At first it was hard for the rest of the team to look at and interact with Kuki the same way as before but over time, even they kind of forgot that Mushi was once there all the time. Everybody but Abby of course, the guilt was suffocating sometimes.

And sometimes, Abby would catch Kuki standing in the area where she and Mushi would have tea parties. As pretty as her face was, the distress on it was always very noticeable, like she was trying so hard to remember something but couldn't. It's so messed up, Abby threw up again. Sometimes she would catch Kuki frowning at her from across the dinner table or something. TND Neuro-wipe scientists had let her know that just because the memories were gone, the feelings wouldn't remain. Kuki would always have a strange hatred for Abby without knowing why.

"Whoa," a voice with a lovable came from behind her as she bent to heave for the third time, "You look like hell."

Abby looked up to see Nigel coming towards her. She tried to smile, really did, but it was hard to do when you face was caked in tears and vomit was threatening to burst from behind your lips. She just gave him a wave.

Nigel was no stranger to Abby's habits. If she was this trashed by herself in the middle of nowhere then something must be really wrong. However, she was in no condition to explain herself so instead he offered his hand, "Let me walk you back?"

She nodded and placed her hand in his.

She stumbled the first quarter of a mile back and then finally could not walk after the were about a mile from the house. That was fine, Nigel was not as scrawny as he used to be. He carried her on his back, amused at the way she would fall asleep and then jolt awake with a snort. He had to keep adjusting her weight as she was barely conscious through the hike. No big deal, just an added chore.

He managed to get her to the house, open the frond door and haul her up the stairs to the room he knew was hers, they had planned many battle strategies in there back in the day. It looked emptier now, he wondered where all the furniture went to. Maybe she was just remodeling, he thought, it's not like her parents wouldn't let her.

He placed, more like dropped, her into her giant bed. He debated on whther or not to changed her out of her vomit soaked t-shirt or not and ultimately decided that she would be mad at him later if he didn't. It was not that big of a deal for him to see her breast. Not that Abby wasn't an attractive young lady but, she was his second in command, nothing good would come out of a few moment of bad decision making on his part. He noticed a shirt laying on the floor a few feet away and assumed it was just one of Hoagies old shirts. He slid it onto her and then took off her shorts, leaving the underwear. He started to pull up the covers when Abby mumbled something in her sleep.

"What?" he chuckled.

"Wally…" and then she drifted back into silence.

Nigel was taken aback for a second. What about Wally? And then he noticed that the shirt she was wearing, the one that came from her floor, was orange. Not that Hoagie never wore orange but, that specific shirt is one he distinctly remembered seeing on Wally a day before. He shook his head and patted his good friend on the head. Abby wouldn't be so stupid, would she?

…..

Joey Beatles sat in the office he built behind he room walls. He had his feet propped up on the desk and was counting off his money. Fat stacks of hundred dollar bills lay before him. He smiled. Being a double agent was profitable but stressful work. He was constantly looking over his shoulder when out and about. Whenever his brother called he had to watch what he said. When Cree called he had to watch what he said. When Father, Chad, of Mushi (when she wanted a lay) called he had to watch what he said. He scoffed, was there ever a time where he didn't have to watch what he said.

He finished counting of the last of his ten thousand in cash. He had gone of the grid from A.P.P.L.E for a couple of days once he got news that one of the TND sectors found out about the mining operation. Although, none of that was his fault, he knew that Cree would be looking for him. She would think that he gave them the intel. Yes, he had informed on them before but this time it really wasn't his fault. For days at a time he had been under Father's boot, doing whatever he asked of him—for a price. His most recent mission was simple enough.

Joey had been sent to South America, Bolivia to be exact, to find a man named Francis. That was all Father told him to do. Find the man and give him the manila envelope filled with stuff that Joey did not care or want to know. He had managed to get the task done in four days, which was impressive as Father had only told him that the man looked about fifty and wore an eye patch. Surprisingly, a lot of people had eye patches down there.

Upon returning to the states, he was given ten thousand dollars and a visit from Mushi. Good pay, if you asked him.

His visits with her typically start with a slew insults ranging from "Pig-headed," to "Bastard" in reference to him. He has started thinking of them as Mushi's pet names for him. They aren't sweet pet names, but pet names nonetheless. After a while, she would calm down and ask for a drink, sitting down on his bed as she hold out her beckoning hand. He keeps a fridge stocked with pucker because he knows she likes that specific brand of vodka. He'll pour her a shot, she'll drink it, ask for three more and then be pretty wasted from then on. This whole time, Joey would normally only have gone through a beer of two. Not a big drinker.

Once intoxicated, Mushi is quite fun to talk to. Joey probably enjoys this part of her visits more than anything, just the talking. He always asks her if she'll eventually go visit her sister and Mushi always says the same thing, "Maybe when she remembers she has one."

She had her favorite question as well, "When are you going to tell your brother how much of a skeeze you are?"

Joey's automated response, "After I have enough money to by him that car he's always wanted."

And they would laugh.

Truth is Joey found himself in quite the web of lies now and days. He refused to actually register and join the TND so he really can't be held for treason because of what he does. He can't be held accountable if the TND moonbase files are just that easy to hack into and send off to whomever he may please. On that note, he is a complete a total ass for helping the people who go against his flesh and blood. In a strange way, he does look out for his brother. He never supplies Father or his A.P.P.L.E agents with information about sector V and what they are working on no matter how much money is involved. He has already stated that he refuses to steal anything from the place and absolutely will not tell his brother about his doings.

Whenever Wally would ask what he was up to, Joey would say, "Oh, just going to work, bro." and leave it at that.

Nothing would be worse than ending up estranged like the rest of the siblings of sector V agents had become. He loved his brother more than anything in the world and it killed him inside everyday when Father would ask a question a little to close to home.

Wally tucked away half the money in his secret money drawer and wrapped the other half up in a rubber band. His parents had lost their jobs a few weeks ago, not that it mattered because he was making enough to pay bills and feed them with all the missions he has been going on. He had even sent them on a cruise the previous month with "tips he made from the restaurant."

They never questioned further.

He phone began to vibrate, "Hello?" he wasn't expecting a phone call.

"Yo!"

Speak of the devil, it was Wally.

"What's up, brother?"

Wally didn't sound himself. Girl troubles. "I need your advice."

Joey chuckled, "You're not coming out to me are you?"

"No, you ass!" and then Wally laughed, "What do you think about Abby?"

Joey thought for a moment, "I don't know, she is like the best of the best. Definitely a dime piece, not that you're allowed to think so. Kuki would kill you."

The line became very silent then.

"YOU DIDN'T!" Joey yelled into the phone. Wally couldn't respond for the next minute and a half because of Joey's hysterical laughter. He nearly fell out of his chair from how far he threw his head back. "Oh my goodness, how was it. Details!"

"Shut up, man.

"No, bro, seriously, how was it?" Joey inquired, "I bet she's like an Amazon in bed."

Wally gave a low chuckle, he was amused but felt guilty. He took a deep breath and then there was the sound of bubbling, a moment later he answered, "Dude, she is the best I've ever had." More bubbling.

Joey made a face, "What is that?"

"Hookah."

"Oh," Joey had no idea what in the world that was but continued, "I'm happy for you but, Kuki…"

"I KNOW! I'm the crud of the Earth right now or at least I feel like it."

A few more moments when by. Bubbling, exhale, bubbling, exhale.

"What is a hookah, exactly?" Joey asked.

"Focus!"

"Right. Well, you confided in me year ago that you found Abby attractive o, maybe this I just years in the making?"

Wally sighed, "I guess. But there are so many things wrong with—"

Joey's phone beeped, signaling another call was coming in. He looked at the screen and it read, "Paul," the codename he had given Father just in case he called while Wally was around. He silently cursed and cut his brother off mid sentence, "Listen, Wally, this is work. Can I call you back later?"

"Oh," Wally faltered, "Yeah man, do what you've got to do. Talk to you later."

"Peace, bro."

Once Wally had hung up, Joey switched lines, "Hello, Father?"

...

Wally finally doused the hookah and just gave up on Abby finding her way to the room. I was nearly sunrise and he hadn't even seen a glimpse of her by the lake the balcony overlooked. If she was on the pier, soaking her toes like she enjoyed doing, he would have seen her. Or maybe not, it was pretty damn dark out as the clouds had completely obscured to moon and the stars. He pushed the smoking apparatus back to the corner it was in and padded his way through the dark room that he hadn't bothered to light candles in. The door was hard to find but he felt where the wall parted and pushed he way out, silently as to not attract any attention.

The hallway that the room let out into was completely deserted save for a couple f crushed beer cans they hadn't gotten around to picking up. The house still reeked of hostility and angst. Without realizing it, Wally was heading straight for Abby's room.

Her door had a keep out sign on it, a big black and red number with multiple exclamation points all over it. She had made it when she was eleven. He remembered sitting down and making fun of how completely ineffective it would be against anyone or anything. "If a three-headed, purple dragon wants to get into your room, a sign ain't gonna stop it, Shiela!" he recalled saying. And they had laughed heartedly for a long while after. Why did he even remember that?

As he reached out to grab the door knob the door suddenly opened. A sweaty and flushed Nigel came out of it. They locked eyes for a moment, both of them looking suspiciously at the other one. The air was electric as both of them ran through a series of questions as to why the other one was there at that present point in time. Nigel broke the silence, "Numbuh 4?"

"Numbuh 1."

Nigel raised one eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

Wally rebutted, "What are you doing?" he barely hid the indignation in his voice, the accusation was clear, "This is Abby's room."

"I know this, do you?"

Wally took a moment to fake a yawn, "I must have gotten the doors confused…" he paused, "You're awfully sweaty."

Nigel rolled his eyes, "Yeah Abby is pretty beast in bed," he said sarcastically. He heard the very audible growl that escaped Wally's lips after he had said it and felt the need to hold up his hands in surrender, "Whoa! It was a joke man."

The blond visible calmed at that statement. He took a deep breath.

"But, I must say," Nigel started, "You two have been rather close lately. I fear that it may be too close."

"We're just gaming buddies, Numbuh 1." Trademark explination.

Nigel chuckled. "You know where I found her tonight?" Wally shook his head and Nigel continued, "She was wasted, out in the dark by the lake. Who knows what would have happened to her if I hadn't been out there looking for A.P.P.L.E surveillance tech."

Wally found himself taken aback. Abby very rarely drank enough to be classified as wasted even when peer pressure presented itself. "What was she doing out there?" he asked without really thinking about it.

Nigel used his thumbs and index fingers to message his exposed temples, "I'm not sure exactly but she was yelling nonsense into the sky," he paused to give a dark chuckle, "I don't even think she realized that she was voicing some of her thoughts, really. It was just plainly obvious that the stress of this new case and _various outside factors_ are causing her a great deal of mental and emotional pain."

The fact that Nigel had emphasized "various outside factors" made him very nervous. He tried to keep his expression as neutral as possible. He stuck his hands in his sweat pants pockets coolly and leaned back on his heels, "Maybe she needs a break. Maybe—"

"Wally, she said you name in her sleep." He sighed, shaking his head.

Wally made a mock face of surprise, "Blimey… that's strange." He said but his insides were warm and fuzzy.

Nigel looked his teammate in the eyes and stood to his full height. He wanted to make his point clear and short as his own weariness was wearing on him. "Wally," he began, "Numbuh 4, I have for a long time watched you and Kuki, Hoagie and Abby and never once did I call you out on the lingering looks you gave our dear second in command. Never once."

"Nigel…"

"But, we have our hands full with, well, TND doesn't even know yet. I need all of Sector V agents heads clear for what might happen and that won't be the case if you and Abby are fucking around behind closed doors."

"NUMBUH 2…"

"Shut up! She's been through a lot in the past and she isn't done fighting herself about it. I know all about Hoagie and his problems. I ignored his tendancies at the request of Abigail and I expect you not to exacerbate the issue. What do you think he'll do to her if he finds out that you two are having an affair? What do you think that will do to the team? What about Kuki. You've done some bone-headed things in the past but damnit, Wallabee Beatles, if you have any smarts in your brain at all you will put whatever you two have done in the past and focus on what you have to do in the future. Do I make myself clear?"

Wally said nothing. He stood there like a child who had recently been scorned by their parent.

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Numbuh 1."

Nigel puffed, "Then off with you now. Get some rest."

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**Reviews are appreciated, of course. **

**I promise they are almost done at the lake house. Not that their vacation has been all that pleasant. **


	17. Reveal

**Again? AMUHAHA! Once I get in the mood to write I just can't help myself. Hope you like it!**

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Nigel stood in the center of the lounge room, Wally and Kuki sat on a love seat in front of him and Abby was on a recliner, sipping a cup of tea. She was hung over, hair a right mess and she had done nothing about the dark bags under her eyes. She felt like crap and she was pretty sure she looked like it too. No matter, a meeting was a meeting and as the second in command, she had to be in attendance.

Nigel was facing the stone hearth of the fire place, back to his fellow sector V teammates and hands laced together. The hard expression on his face went unnoticed but he was sure his team could feel the intensity radiate off of him. It had happened again. Sector H, those bastards, had done it again. He shook his head at the thought that had been gnawing at the back of his brain for hours since he had checked in with the Treehouse's main data bank. He took in a deep breath, held it, and then exhaled loudly to signal that he was about to speak and everyone else, if they knew what was good for them, should shut up and listen.

"We cannot stay here any longer," he started, "Vacation time is over."

Kuki was the only one to give any complaint. She whined, more so than anyone felt necessary and threw up her hands in protest, "Why? We've only been here a couple days!" she continued with her questions.

Wally sat quietly, his expression was neither here nor there. He couldn't look up as he didn't want to lock eyes with Nigel again. He remembered the talk they had mere hours before the meeting and could not bare to look at his commanding officer at that point in time. Looking up also had the threat of catching Abby's eyes. He was at a loss. He honestly couldn't think of anything better than leaving the Lake House so that he could return home, not the Tree House but his actual home. Where he could sit and talk to Joey about all of this. Maybe even sit down for a drink with his brother, as he knew his parents would not be home.

Nigel held his hand up to silence Kuki once she began tearing up, "Numbuh 3, we have more pressing matters to attend to. Everyone will have one day of rest once we return to the city and then I expect everyone back at the Treehouse for further orders. Am I understood?"

At that, Wally flinched. He was not afraid of Nigel but the way he spoke sometimes gave him the shivers. Kuki never answered, she just stood up and stomped out of the room. Although Wally never looked up, he heard Abby stand up and shuffle her way out of the room. He wondered if she looked at him on her way out. Once the room had gone silent again Nigel put a hand on his shoulder and patted him twice on it. "It's for the best right now, was all he said before he too walked out of the room leaving Wally there alone.

Within two hours the team had been packed up rolled out. Wally probably would not have minded the drive home so much if not for Kuki's incessant whining about how much she hated the fact that Nigel UNO got to tell us when to leave without really giving a reason why. She would not let it go. At first Wally just tried to ignore her, drown out the sound of her talking with the music blasting from his radio but she only raised her voice. Then he thought, maybe if I engage in conversation with her, the faster the conversation will end. No such luck, she only wanted to complain more. He drove faster with hopes that he could just get her out of the car faster.

"Wally," Kuki began, "Why aren't you more angry about this?"

Wally shrugged. Explaining to her that he had quite possibly the worst time of his life out there because of his unrequited feelings for Abby would not have been a good idea. So he bit his tongue and just said, "Wasn't feelin' it this year, I guess."

Kuki slumped against the passenger side seat and sighed, "Yeah, it's my fault. After I woke up with that guys blood on me I just kind of left you in the dark. You seemed to come out of it okay though, thank goodness. I think Cree's people drugged my drink." She then leaned over to kiss his cheek, "I'm sorry I ruined your weekend, Wally-bear."

And just like that Wally felt worse about himself and everything he had done to Kuki. She thinks everything was her fault. She did not know about Abby in the slightest. She had no idea what had transpired the first night in Abby's bathroom or what followed the morning after. She had no idea that he had spent three days trying to find ways to tell another girl how he felt about her. He felt like dirt. He felt worse than dirt. He felt like shit.

A couple hours later he had gotten Kuki home and unloaded all of her bags. She had packed an unnecessary amount for the two days they were there, let alone for a week. The drive to his home was relaxing despite how short it was. He grabbed his one duffle bag of clothes and hopped out of the car after pulling into the garage, not surprised in the slightest that both of his parents' cars were gone. He hoped Joey was still in though.

After fumbling with his keys in the bleak darkness of his musty garage he managed to get the side door open. He had to admit, he missed his house. He missed how it always smelled lemony fresh with a hint of cinnamon because his mother cleaned religiously every Tuesday and Thursday and then lit cinnamon incense on the other days. The place smelled perpetually like a bakery. He missed how the only things he were responsible for when at home were keeping his room and making sure that he had on clean underwear. He missed the days when his parents actually cared whether he was in his room or not. It wasn't their fault, they had been programmed by the KND to go on frequent vacations and stay at work. So, their family was always financially set, but, Wally had to take care of Joey most days. Not so much in the present but he remembers being younger and dragging his diaper-clad baby brother around.

"Oi!" Wally called out, checking if anyone was in the house. He waited, no answer back, "JOEY!"

He walked into the kitchen and threw his duffle onto the counter while he raided the fridge. Thank goodness his parents kept it well stocked. The treehouse seemed to be perpetually out of food, especially on days that ended in Y. Wally suspect everyone did what he did, hide his own personal fridge somewhere in his room. Back in the day, Hoagie would go on one of his eating binges and eat everything in the communal fridge, leaving no survivors.

One triple decker, ham, turkey and swiss on potatoe salad sandwich later, Wally was posted up in the living room. He balanced a x-box controller on one leg and the plate of food on the other as she tried to search for the remote. He found it between the middle and far right couch cushion, turned on the TV and switched it to the gaming settings. "LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"

_Modern Warfare 3—oh, how I've missed you._

And then he thought about it, laughed and took a bite of his sandwich while the opening screen loaded. His life was modern warfare.

…

Nigel did not let himself partake in the luxury of going straight home for some uninterrupted rest and relaxation. He made a point to stop by the Treehouse and check the insurmountable amount of emails pertaining to the recent uproar in TND. He bit his lip and he filed through what he thought was bullshit and what he thought was helpful, putting all the helpful stuff in a folder and just deleting the rest. The hardest part was reading all of it. Some of the emails were written by eleven year olds who had obviously sat in front of the computer with a thesaurus in their laps and attempted to put as many unneeded big words in as possible. Other emails were written by pot heads, obviously, conspiracy theroists, and some truly smart college TND agents. Nigel grimaced, if that many different people knew about this before him, he must me loosing his edge.

In the middle of him reading through another eleven year old's information email he received and request for video chat from "Command362." He clicked accept without giving it another thought.

"Commander." He said curtly. He was not in the mood for flirting or games. All business is what he wanted.

She blew a strange of gold hair out her face and looked straight into the camera. The blue cybernetic glow off the screen cast some fairly unattractive shadows across her tired face, she had obviously been up for a while. She reached down and picked up a piece of paper, looked at it and then flipped it around so Nigel could see it. "What do you see?" she asked him, face obscured by the picture.

Nigel stared at it for a moment. With all the technology they have up in Moon Base they could get the picture printed in color? But he tried, and tried and eventually scrunched his face up. Two large black circled surrounding small shapes in a see of gray. "Honestly, Numbuh 362, it looks like kids in a sandbox."

She sighed and brought the picture down. Her fingers could be heard off screen typing away and then the picture reappeared in colored form on the side of Nigel screen. He could see it clearly now, the large gray expanse was sand and the little objects circled by black sharpie were bulldozers. Nigel scrunched his face again, "Okay so…" and then he caught a glimpse of a logo on the side of one of the large mechanical objects, "A.P.P.L.E."

She nodded. "And the place they have taken to remodeling is the Egyptian TND base."

"How did they…"

"We are unsure of how right now but we think we know why." She typed again and the picture disappeared only to be replaced by the results of the tests on the Green stone Fanny had brought her a few days recently. "Oh lab techs have been studying this stone, one we have appropriately named 'Aphrodite's Jewel.'"

Nigel looked over the details as she spoke

"This specific one was intercepted from an A.P.P.L.E agent a few days back after Fanny brought the initial sample that she, alarmingly, found randomly in my Moon Base quarters in my suitcase."

Nigel looked up, one eyebrow cocked in question.

"Don't get excited, I had her unpack all of my luggage while I worked."

And then his head went back down to continue reading.

"Anyways, I thought it extremely strange that she would find that on my clothing, after figuring out what it does so I started asking questions," she flipped the picture on the screen to a new picture, this one was a chart, "There was more sexual activity this year. Sector G had a massive orgy once they got back to housing; Sectors L1 and L2 were seen publicly getting it on. Sectors R, F4, TN7 and T2 all needed counseling because of the things they've seen and done."

Nigel once again tore his attention away from the picture on the screen to look at Rachel, "So, hormones are hormones. There was a fair amount more alcohol this year than last year. Correlation, I think so."

"Ha-ha, very funny," she paused, "I had one of our newer agents go check out the island again. He came across a very strange radiation signal and followed it to a cave. From there we sent in retrieval squads and found that A..E had a lab tucked away there. A lab they were using to figure out this very stone, what they call, HMONE-7. He revisited the hotel- where no one was working, by the way, they were all in the back having what he refered to as 'the nastiest sex, I have ever seen.'—and found smaller samples of the stone in the corners of more than a dozen rooms."

Nigel seemed to pause at that. "They were experimenting on us."

Rachel nodded.

"How did they know where we'd be? How did they get the stones into peoples' rooms?"

The blond straightened up to her full height and laced her fingers together, "As for how they knew where we'd bee, most of these younger agents can't stop posting their locations up on Facebook or what have you so, that's that. How they managed to get it into our rooms and so on, I suspect we're being infiltrated." The dark tone in which she said it made a chill go up Nigel's spine.

"But,"

She held up a slender hand and cut him off, "I will not speak more until we meet in person. I'm calling a meeting of all team captains in a week. Be there." She stated with finality, "Until then, keep your team in check. We are in a code red situation here. I would hate to have another A-Day level occurrence happen so everyone needs to be prepared."

"Yes, commander."

"Over and out."

The screen went blank. Nigel leaned back in his rotating chair and sighed loudly.

"Fuck."

…

Wally only played for an hour before his little brother came through the front door. A pack on his shoulder and soda in his hand. He always thought it was weird how he and Joey looked like replica's of the other one, but at this moment in time it was the most comforting sight in the universe. He rose off the couch and opened his arms wide, "BROTHER!"

Joey laughed and rolled his eyes, running towards his brother with his arms wide as well. Wally completely overtook him with the hug, eventually turning it into a wrestling match. The sprawled and twisted and turned and whirled until eventually Wally's size had won him the match. Joey was still in his scrawny stage but, he always put up a good fight, mostly because Wally had taught him what to do.

Joey reached up to the couch cushions where he had dropped his soda and pulled it down, unscrewing the cap, and took a drink. He offered it up to his big brother once he was done. Wally took a couple swigs, and then reached for the cap so he could close it. As he stretched to put it onto the coffee table they had miraculously missed, Joey spoke up, "So, figure anything out yet?" he asked in rather unceremonious way.

Wally shook his head, "Nah."

Joey awkwardly waited until he knew that his former wasn't going to continue with the sentence. He patted his shoulder and chuckled a bit, "Well, which one gives you the tingles in your willy parts?" he asked with a laugh.

Wally found himself laughing too, strangely. "Willy parts? Really?"

"Willy."

"I don't know man," Wally began, "You know, last night after talking to you, I was going to go to Abby's room and just climb into bed with her. Nothing sexual, I just wanted to be next to her before we had to come back here to real life, you know?"

Joey stared at his brother for a moment before shaking his head, "No. I've just wanted to lie next to a girl without her without her, in someway, services me."

"Who taught you how to be such a creep?" Wally punched his brother playfully in the shoulder.

Joey winced, "You're the one climbing around into beds, mate, not me."

Wally then got very serious, "Nigel came out of the room as I got there."

"DAMN! Abby's a…"

"No, no, she's not. He had found her wasted in the woods. He said she kept saying my name." Wally waited for a response from his brother whose expression suddenly grew very unreadable. "Numbuh 1," he said his leader's name with a tone of indignation, "Told me that I should stay away from her entirely. She's been through so much already. Tommy's condition, Mushi's kidnapping, she blames herself for it all."

Joey took a moment before answering. Yet another occasion where he had to watch what he said around his brother. He astounded himself, really he did, any other person would let the secret about Mushi slip by now, but not him. But, he did care about his brother's well being and, in all honesty, Abby had kept him from dying several times when Wally tried to make dinner with things he found under the sink. "So, do you feel like that is the right thing to do?"

Wally shook his head, "Like I would know what right from wrong is at this point," he rose from his sitting position and ran a hand through his slightly sweat dampened hair, "I can't say that I feel something for Abby. It would cause too much drama."

"But you do, don't you?"

Wally grew silent.

Joey stood up next to his brother and smiled, "Kuki is a great girl, really. She's got that love-you-long-time thing going on for her and I think at one point that was what you thought you wanted but… you and Abby, you guys have always been close. I just feel like it was a matter of time before you both just broke down and went at each other." After a moment of silence, Joey grabbed his back pack off the crouch and his soda off the table and headed towards the stairs, "I feel like maybe it's time you evaluate why you're still with Kuki, why really, and look at why you aren't taking steps to be Abby." And then Joey was gone, up the stairs and into his room.

Wally chuckled to himself, "Smart ass."

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**Hope you enjoyed reading. A lot of building it going on so stay tuned.**

**Reviews make my willy parts tingle so please do it.**


	18. Scratching

This is a short chapter pretty much a continuation of the last one.

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The first thing Abby did upon returning to her home was make a cup of tea. Afterwards she posted up in front of her parents flat screen that almost took up an entire wall in the living room. She popped several Advil's after a few shows and made herself several more cups of tea as the day progressed. She mentally bashed herself for being so stupid the previous night; it was so out of character. How could she let Wally affect her so much?

Wally hadn't even given her the justice of looking at her during the meeting. She knew this because she had her peripherals constantly trained on him. He never looked up at Nigel, never looked over at her, hell, he hadn't even taken the time to return one of Kuki's love sick glances, he was a bump on a log the entire time. Abby could not decide whether she was angrier over the fact that he refused to look at her or over the fact that Kuki had been a total bitch to her on her way down to the meeting room.

Abby scoffed audibly into the empty house. Upon finally waking up and getting her migraine ridden self out of her room, she took the path towards the stairs to the kitchen was abruptly interrupted by Kuki. Abby had kept her cool during the whole thing but, she could not deny that Kuki had gotten a rise out of her.

"Oh, look, the second in command finally rises to greet the day," Kuki spoke, louder than needed, which was torture on Abby's ears.

Abby ran both hands through her hair and look at the other female on her team, "Morning Kuki." It was then that Abby went to start boiling water for her tea. Kuki the proceeded to just stare at Abby. Not a word came from her mouth but her eyes seemed to be unable to look at anything but the girl before her. Abby caught sight of this but ignored it, this wasn't the first time Kuki had decided to stare her down. "Did you sleep well?" Abby asked as the water began to boil and bubble.

Kuki said nothing.

"Well, I am hung over. Rough night."

Kuki's eyes narrowed, "With Wally?"

That made Abby visible falter mid-stride towards the cupboard. She recovered though, grabbed a mug and then went over to where all the tea selections were. "What do you mean?" she asked, not looking at Kuki due to the guilt that was written all over her face. She chose to go with earl grey this morning. Her head throbbed as she tore open the tea bag packet.

Kuki sighed and then rose from her perch at the counter, "Nothing…"

Abby just listened as the girl headed for the door, relieved that she was finally going away but, her footstep stopped short of the threshold, "Perhaps you take my aversion to talking to you as weakness, Abigail," Kuki said behind her, "I assure you, there will come a time where we will fight. I would rather that Wally not be the reason."

Abby smiled, "I wouldn't fight back."

Numbuh five finished making her tea and headed for the meeting room. Kuki had obviously been scratching at the wall created from the mind alterations preformed on her way back when. Kuki had never behaved the same around her. Abby expected that eventually, the dam would break and Kuki would come for her—one day. She meant what she said; she wouldn't fight back unless Kuki was legitimately trying to hurt or kill her. Abby sighed, you never know what people are capable of when they feel as though they have been pushed to far…

Back to the present, Abby curled into the giant plush sofa she had made a place on in the living room of her parent's home. The day had come and gone, leaving night to descend upon her quiet abode. She hadn't moved to turn on any lights, the tv provided quite enough for her plans to just fall asleep on the couch and attempt to forget about the entire weekend. She wanted to forget about the times with Wally all together. She wanted to forget about Hoagie, about Tommy's condition, Mushi's kidnapping, and, probably most of all, the friendship she had lost just like how Kuki was forced to lose her memories of her sister.

Her phone suddenly vibrated deep within the recesses of her backpack. She had taken one phone call that day, from Nigel. Total business call. He filled her in on the fact that Head Quarters knew about the strange, raging hormone inducing, stone that she and Wally had come across while at the conference base. All of it was hard to listen to really. There is a deceiver amongst the TND, not that their enemies haven't tried before but, this was not an all out attack, this was calculated. Nigel then ran her through his theories about what happened at the Lake house, the missing memories and such. It all made sense.

Abby was going to kick Cree's apple bottom ass the next time she saw her, that much she was sure of. A.P.P.L.E was toying with them, studying them and they had been succeeding. Damnit, she muttered into the darkness, the Lake House was supposed to be neutral… how could she?

Then it occurred to her that she was talking about Cree after all; the best of the best at what she does, the most evil of all bitches in A.P.P.L.E's organization—how long would it have been until she pulled something like that. Abby once again came to the crossroads of whether she regretted any of it. This time she told herself no. Two hours ago the answer was yes as she sipped on hot apple cinnamon tea. Now, she was settling on her morals, her emotions had cooled to a slow simmer.

And then there was sleep…

…

Kuki lay on her queen-sized bed, pink comforter pulled up over her chest. Her silky, black hair lay sprawled around her head making an elegant fan. She stared complacently at the ceiling, not quite aware of her surroundings but not entirely gone from reality. She focused on her breathing while she counted the specks of green paint above her head. She couldn't remember how they got there, nor could she remember why they gave her a feeling of joy and contentment. She was getting a headache. Her temples throbbed and her eyes watered but she tried to force herself to remember.

How did the paint get up there? She continued to ask herself, her own high-pitched voce ringing inside of her skull.

An image came to her: She was younger, a paint brush in her hand and a smile on her face so wide that the corners of her mouth began to hurt. She was jumping around on her bed in the green sweater she used to love despite it being several sizes to long in the arms. She was laughing and flinging the bottle of green paint in all directions. Some of it hit her, most of it hit everything else within reaching distance and the ceiling. The headache began to subside, slowly.

"Kuki!" a voice that meant nothing and everything to her at the same time called her name, "KUKI!"

Little Kuki turned around and in front of her was her reflection except smaller, with pigtails and a purple sweater—no, Kuki realized, it wasn't a reflection, it was someone else. Who? The memory left before the strange little girl could say anymore. Kuki's head felt better in minutes but her heart seemed to beat harder every time the memory of the girl popped back into her head.

_Who are you?_

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	19. Lock Down, Black Out

**In case you guys have not heard, I recently had some issues with another user plagiarizing my stories and putting them up as her own which left a rather sour taste in my mouth. I'm not okay with that. But I got it all sorted out and things are looking better so, I'm back!**

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Early morning conference calls were the worst, everyone knew it, but Nigel had no choice. He stood in the center of the Treehouse conference room, wrapped in a robe with a large mug of coffee in his hand and he yawned as Numbuh Five slowly stumbled in. Wally and Kuki had been there on time.

"Finally we can start," Kuki shot Abby a glare as she settled into her seat.

Nigel cleared his throat, "Everyone, I'm going to need you to focus because this is of the utmost importance and we only have a few hours before we need to be out of here."

A chorus of "WHAT" and "WHY" hit him before he could continue. He raised his mug to signal that they should all stifle themselves so he could explain and they did, begrudgingly. "Last night it was brought to my attention by the Head of TND that A.P.P.L.E has somehow infiltrated our organization. Up until recently, they have been privy to everything in our systems, including where we''d be going for the TND Conference." He paused to take a drink and gauge whether anyone was still awake, let alone listening to him. He grimaced at the zombie-looking faces before. Slack-jawed, dead stare—at least they were focused on him.

He pushed a button nearby and a large screen dropped, on it was a spinning image of the jewel and several stats beside it on either side. "This is Aphroditie's Jewel, as out scientist call it,"—Wally shifted uncomfortably at the sight of the glowing green stone—"We don't know everything about it currently but we do know that, 1: It causes a, erm, hormonal response, and 2: A.P.P.L.E was using us as test subjects."

Abby felt herself shrink into the chair she was sitting in.

"Any questions?" Nigel prompted.

"Just one," Wally piped up, standing as he did, "When do we leave?"

Nigel gave his pal a smirk, "Whenever everyone is ready."

It took an hour to check all the vehicles, gather the proper gear and get the treehouse squared away for an extended time left alone. Their individual briefing packets arrived about ten minutes before they met back in the conference room and they weren't allowed to open them until they were in a secluded area. No sharing information, no looking at each other's packets, TND was going into full blown lock down.

All Treehouse bases had to be left so they could be inspected, all operatives had to be split and sent to specified testing facilities. The TND communication network was deactivated, all files backed up, onto a flash drive that 362 would wear around her neck for the time being, and then deleted from the TND main database. She gave everyone authorization for cell phone use, to call parents if need be and let them know that they would be gone for a while, no telling how long.

….

"We've got to go now Mr. Gilligan," it wasn't Hoagie's therapists speaking to him, no, he had been to afraid to get him on his own, it was a TND soilder with a gun aimed his head that was telling him to get a move on, "Mr. Gilligan?" he tried again after no response.

He had only been there three weeks in total, but it felt like an eternity in hell. After the last sedation accident, he really didn't speak much, choosing to mull over things in his own head. The therapist came everyday and tried to start small talk. Most days he just talked to Hoagie, other days he tried to push Hoagie to respond through threats of further injections and, like this day, soldiers were brought in sometimes. He never flinched, never got up from his spot in the middle of the room and he never stopped staring at the wall. The soldier called out to him again.

"Mr. Gilligan, the TND is going into lock down. We have been instructed to escort you to your briefing zone." The soldier spoke again.

This time Hoagie did react. This time, he straightened his posture, brushed back his hair and licked his lips in preparation to speak. He turned towards the soldier and the scared therapist behind him and smiled, "Then let us be on our way."

He said so nonchalantly that the therapist gave a shudder. The soldier grasped his gun a little tighter. They expected Hoagie to make a break for it but he simply stood there, holding his wrists out in preparation for the MagNaCuffs. With a stuttered effort, the soldier slung the gun strap over his shoulder and pulled out the cuffs, getting them onto his prisoner as fast as possible in case his calm front was just that… a front. Hoagie had pulled something similar a week prior that resulted in the hospitalization of three of TND's top security agents.

"Shall we be on our way?" Hoagie asked.

The soldier sent an electro-shock pulse up through the cuffs and spoke authoritatively, "Just in case you try something funny, remember that the trigger to making those cuffs electrocute you is built into a neuro-transmitter in my helmet. I just have to think it and you fry. Got it?" He took a step back as Hoagie nodded slowly, never taking his predator eyes off of him, "Move it, Gilligan."

Hoagie did exactly as he was told. He ignored the gun being pressed to his back. Ignored the taunts the soldier made in an attempt to goad a response from him. He even ignored the therapists incessant talking about a new theory on schizophrenia. He was inwardly laughing the whole way down the hallway and into the transport ship. His designated lock down center was Lake Pahno—

Lake Pahno Lock Down Zone was linked with the Lyra Desert Valley Lock Down Zone through a series of tunnels used for transporting servicemen and women, supplies and information by snail mail. Lyra Desert Vally Lock Down Zone was Abby's Lock Down zone.

They were going to take him straight to her.

…

"You're causin' a hell of a lot of trouble, Cree." Abby silently cursed her sisters name into the hull of her transport vehicle. She had the music turned all the way up and was reclining in the pilot's chair. She had not called anyone to let them know she was going to probably be gone for a while, because her parents were who-knows-where doing who-knows-what. Her phone rang for the third time since they all departed the treehouse. It was Wally, again.

With a sigh, she looked at the countdown until total blackout took effect. Five minutes, she could handle a five minute conversation with Wally.

"Hello?" she answered. Eyes closed.

There was a small pause, "Finally," he breathed into the phone.

A shiver went up and down her spine, spreading to the rest of her limbs, "You have about five minutes. What's up?"

"I just want to know if you are okay," not a complete lie on Wally's behalf, "You haven't spoken to me in a while."

"You haven't spoken to me either." She attempted to flip it.

"I called you when we all got home," Wally grew angry, "You haven't answered any of my calls!"

Abby just took a deep breath. "Okay, running out of time."

"I think we should chalk this whole thing up to the stone, shiela," he said, beside himself, "Nigel said that something big is coming and that we all need our heads clear."

"Couldn't agree more."

"So we forget about everything?"

"Agreed."

Wally took a moment to process what he was saying and what was being said back to him. It was like someone was speaking through his body and he couldn't stop them, it was horrifying. He wanted to say so much more, but he only had a few minutes left. "Well, I guess we're on for a gaming day when we get back then, eh?"

Abby shut her eyes tight and forced out the words, "Definitely."

An awkward silence took over the line. Abby sat there watching the time tick away from her as she pressed her own lips shut to keep them closed. They couldn't be trusted, her lips, they just do as they please it seemed.

5…

No one was saying anything. The sounds of Wally's labored breathing did not go unnoticed by Abby but she…

4…

… only held her lips tighter. She shut her eyes tighter. Part of her felt like she was going to throw up from how taxing this was on her body.

3… 2…

And Wally could not help but swallow back the cannon of words building up in his throat. He opened his mouth to say them, say some of them, say any of them but…

1.

The lights in Abby's ship went off and the black lights turned on. Blackout had been initiated. All communication tied to any operative was not blocked. No team communication, no communication with headquarters, no ordering pizza. Everyone, until they reach their designated lock down zones, was in the dark.

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	20. WackAMole

**HEY, HI, and HELLO THERE!**

**I just realized that a lot of my chapters were uploaded with major formatting errors. Just letting you all know that I'm not a complete moron, I noticed.**

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"Welcome to Commander Lock Down Center, codename: Commanders Out Of Death Strike," 362 paused for a moment to look at Fanny, the only non-commander of a sector there and scrunched up her face, "Who makes up the names for these places?"

Fanny shrugged and held tighter to her clipboard.

Rachel shook her blond head and continued speaking at her Lecturn, "We are in a time of crisis, my fellow TND commanders. A.P.P.L.E has infiltrated and, luckily, we caught wind of it before it progressed to far." She gave Fanny a head nod, signaling that she should drop the screens and pull up the slides. The first one showed a picture of the Hawiian conference base, "You all remember this place from a few weeks ago, I expect," there was a brief rumble of mumbling and then she proceeded. The slide switched to a black and white image of the conference base with a red line going through it. "What you are seeing is a tunnel under the island. A.P.P.L.E knew where we would be and they created their own lab underneath of us."

Rachel stepped away from the podium as another image popped up, one of the a bunch of lab equipment. Test tubes scatteres the floor along with a quite a few papers, manila folders and large, knocked over cabinets. "This was their base of operation before they left, in a hurry it would seem. As in…"

"Somebody tipped them off," Numbuh one stood up and made his way to the stage.

"Numbuh one of Sector V, everyone," Rachel wasn't mad that he interrupted. She mearly stepped aside as he took center stage. She was happy he had decided to speak up of his own accord because, eventually, should would have called him up. His sector, she was briefed, has been going through some things that she should have known about when they started. Calling him out in front of the other commanders would have been more embarrassing than he, himself, coming up. A few more murmers were heard as he reached the lecturn.

Nigel angled the microphone to a workable position and then leaned forward, grasping the edge of the flat top with his fingers until his knuckles turned white. "My fellow commanders, it is both distressing and embarrassing to state that my team, has been personally effected by these stones."

"My team was hit with it too," A voice escaped the congregation, "Don't flatter yourself."

"Sector V, always in the middle of something!" another voice.

Nigel bit his lip and forced himself to continue, "I have reason to believe that A.P.P.L.E is breaching all the aforementioned trusts and truces set by the great split after A-Day." The crowd was silent now. It was to be expected. When the KND had decided to turn into the TND and some of the teens who had joined up with Father decided to come back to the organization, as well as some of the TND agents going rouge with Father, they had to set rules. Rules that dispatching agents had agreed to and adhered to for years were now being thrown out the window, no one would be happy with that. Nigel wished he had Numbuh five there but, alas, she was in her own torment lately. He would give anything to have his second in command up and for the cause again. Damn Wally. He cleared his voice and began to speak again, "I know what you've heard about my team recently."

"Numbuh two has gone NUTS!" someone laughed, several others chimed in.

Again, Nigel forced his teeth into his lips and bit back quite a few choice words, "As I have stated, my team is going through some trials but that doesn't mean we should ignore the signs," He straightened and spoke so clear that everyone in the room felt their heart beat stop for a moment, "A.P.P.L.E is waging a war. We need to be prepared for anything and everything they have coming at us."

Rachel suddenly returned to the podium, "Starting, with the mole that set us up at the conference base."

…

For the most part, Wally was glad to be in a place far away from his team in his designated lock down center. He recognized some of the faces there, but did not bother to greet anyone. Everyone was in the same state of lamenting that he was. It was a waiting game at this point, all the sector commanders had to talk first, then the information would trickle down. When A-Day happened all those years ago, everyone had been itching for answers, as he looked around and the forelorn faces of his fellow operatives, he knew they all felt his same utter disinterst. Everyone had something to fix back at home, for him it was broken connections with long time friends, for others their issues may be more. They weren't kids anymore; they had bigger things to deal with now.

He flashed back to the conversation he had with his brother before he stupidly call Abby. He just wanted to let Joey know what was going on, he wound up in another therapy session courtesy of Dr. Joey Beetles. His brother hadn't really said anything new about the whole Kuki-Abby situation. He still believed that Wally's needs had ultimately shifted to a more Abby-like lifestyle. He wasn't a child anymore, the transition into manhood called for a person transitioning into womanhood—not Kuki, who seemed perpetually stuck in a fantasy world of rainbows, rainbow monkies and candy. Wally agreed with his brother, completely. He had grown tired of Kuki's childishness a long while ago, but how did he know it was just Abby he was craving. Maybe he was craving something new in general. That was how he got through his trip. It wasn't Hoagie's girl he was after, he wouldn't do that to a friend and teammate, he was confusing his need to protect Abby with his sudden craving for something new—YES! Wally found solace in his new revelation. All he had to do was test the waters somewhere else to be sure of himself.

A small, brunette came running up to him, a manilla envelope in her hand. "Wallabee Beetles of Sector V? Codename: Numbuh 4?" Wally gave a curt nod, a bit weirded out by her accent, "This is for you," She thrust the envelope into his arms and continued speaking at a breakneck pace, "That envelope contains all of your briefing information on the situation. Under no circumstances are you to talk to anyone about the contents of the envelope, that includes, but is not limited to: Texting, Voxing, Tumbling, Facebooking, Tweeting and any other form of blogging, vlogging so forth and so on."

She took a moment to breathe, a moment Wally took to check out his informant. She was cute enough, despite her disproportionate nose, with fair skin and dark hair with splotches of red pulled back into a ponytail that made her forehead look a bit larger than it was. He took a moment to appreciate large, but slightly sagging, breasts before noticing how she had a noticeable muffin top, however, her backside was nice and round. Cute enough for this specific experiment, he told himself. When his gaze met her again she was blushing, "Pl- please pay attention as I will not repeat this information." She managed.

Wally, decided it was time to turn on his charm, smirked and motioned for her to continue. "Inside you envelope is a map of the facility and your bunking area. Meals will be served here, in the main lobby, three times a day. Just listen for the horn. Also in your packet is a schedule for when you'll be allowed to contact certain members of your team. Contact them, or anyone for that matter, out of order, or when you are supposed to, and you will be detained. Indefinitely until further review. Do you understand, Mr. Beetles?"

Her nasally voice made gave Wally the motivation needed to get on with his scheme. "I understand, but," he began to move closer, "As you may know, the last time we were called to lock down, my team never checked in, I don't know my way around."

Her breath hitched, "There's a map in your fol-"

"I'd rather have a pretty lady show me to my room," once he was hovering over her he reached down and grabbed her hand, bringing it up so that he could kiss is, "You fit the description perfectly."

The girls mouth hung agape, "Right this way… Mr. Beetles." As she started off, Wally took the opportunity to wrap one of his well muscled arms around her waist.

Something new, he was just craving something new. That was all, right?

…

"I am not going to argue with you about this, Numbuh One!" Numbuh 362 screamed at him from across the room as she paced back and forth. They had retired to her lock down quarters to further discuss the next move. Nigel sat in a chair in front of a large screen and an impressive layout of electronics. The screen showed all the lobbies of the lock down bases. "We need to show the betrayers that we are not to be trifled with!"

Nigel spun in the chair to face the screens and ran his hand over his bald head in frustration. "It's not that I don't agree with you, Rachel," he paused and zoomed and enlarged one of the screens that showed the Pahno Lock Down base, "But we need to go about this in a smart and tactful way."

She ceased her pacing and glared at the back of Nigel's head for a moment before turning her attention to the screen and fully realizing what he was looking at. She felt her stomach tighten up, "Your team wasn't the only thing affected by A-Day, Nigel," she spoke softly, "Everything changed that day… lives were lost in a fair amount of out most secure sectors."

"Just watch him carefully." Nigel put simply.

The watched as someone stalked their way through the Lyra crowd, envelope in hand. His movements were slow, diligent. He wasn't looking for something, he was looking at everything. He was taking everything in. Every fault in security, every pattern made, any and all doors. "He's just walking around. Yeah he's got crazy eyes but…"

"Hoagie is an observer. If he wanted, and I suspect he does, to do something like—escape," There was a certain emphasis on the last word that made Rachel cringe, "He could create something out of paper clips and a newspaper to help him do so."

"So, we lock him down." She suggested, "Just until he can really be helped."

Nigel shifted the screen over to the Lyra Desert Lock Down center, "That's his target." He zoomed in on Numbuh 5.

Numbuh 362 laughed almost instantly, "Then why are we worrying about Hoagie! We've got bigger fish to fry and Abigail can easily take care of herself."

Nigel took a deep breath and realized that he would have to voice concerns he's had for years. He would have to let some of Sector V's darkest secrets come to light to his superior. He would have to expose himself—but he had no other choice now. "Numbuh 362, Commander 362," he began, turning to face her, "For a long time now I have been monitoring my team, perhaps a bit closer than I should have but I had my reasons. I had my suspicions."

She merely took a step back. The dark tone he had suddenly taken was not something she expected at a time like this. "Go on."

"When everyone started to pair up, I thought 'what the hell could go wrong?' but it became apparent to me that perhaps I should have done more to prevent the coupling, or at least prevent all the things missed because of it." He paused only to gauge his commanders reaction, she only waited. "I should have watched Hoagie carefully, monitored his increasingly violent outbursts,"

"What do you mean? He only just checked into the anger management center."

"That does not mean that he only just started his," he swallowed, "Rampage."

"Nigel."

"Hoagie Gilligan's outbursts haven't been reported to anyone until now because I was trying to protect my team. We grew up together. When I found out about how he was treating Abigail I… tried to talk her out of the relationship but her guilt was like a tether. She refused to see logic and reason because she didn't want to hurt Hoagie anymore than she felt she already had."

Rachel turned heel, her blonde hair fanning behind her elegantly and she lumbered over to her bed, falling back onto it, "As sad as that is, Numbuh 1, I don't see how it matters right now. I will personally see to it that Abigail is compensated for her troubles and that Hoagie is punished later but,"

"Just listen." He did not want to be rude but he knew what he was doing. "Once that situation came to light, I decided to monitor Wally and Kuki's relationship. Different issues, same sort of detrimental status as the others. After Kuki's selective deactivation, she hasn't been the same. She obviously dislikes Numbuh 5, an issue that I never thought we'd have, and she often tries to goad her into a fight… in that really catty way, you know, how girls do it…" he instantly regretted saying that last part as he watched Rachel's left eyebrow twitch up.

"I'm not hearing how this is at all a full scale TND problem." She retorted.

He merely sighed, "I'm going to, as people say, bring it home now. Abby's issues with Hoagie brought about a certain reaction in Wally. I'm sure they would have gotten together eventually but what with Hoagie's blatant physical abuse and Kuki's constant scratching at the inner walls of her psychy it was like they were forced to embark on this whirl of a confusing romance that put that on the forefront of everyones' minds instead of the fact that Mushi is alive, Joey is a freelance mole and Tommy is about ready to do anything to get into one of our MACH jets… or one of A.P.P.L.E's mock jets."

Rachel merely stared at him. She could not find the words to express herself. She could not find the questions that she begged to ask in order to get the answers she wanted. What was he thinking keeping that sort of information from her, from the TND? What was he thinking dropping the bomb on her like that? Why her? Why now? What could she do? What could the TND do? As she opened her mouth to speak or, the more likely option to her at the time, yell at Numbuh 1, her gaze shifted up to the screen of the Pahno lock down center. Hoagie was wading his way through the outer edged of the massive crowd when another agent, one of whom she had become quite aquainted with, strolled up to Numbuh 2 and slipped an envelop into his hand. The envelope was white, standard letter sized and not authorized by lock down procedures. She squinted her eyes and based on what she had gathered from her meeting earlier and the chat she was not done having with Nigel, she had figured out who, perhaps only one of, the mole was. She felt her throat tighten up as she whispered the name with so much malice her body shook, "Amado…"

"Bless you."

She nearly punched him, "It's him… Amado is the mole."

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**READ AND REVIEW PWEASE!**


	21. Authorization

And we are back. Took a break, for that I am sorry. Lots of things had to be done and my FF unfortunately took a hit. So in return, I give you TWO chapters! HAZZUH!

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Nigel turned to the screen and his eyes widened further than he thought possible. In all honesty, if he did not still consider Hoagie to be someone who could be helped, he would have filed for his decommissioning years ago. Of course now, as he watched his teammate chat with this Amado character, he felt otherwise. "Can we get sound?" he asked 362, "Can we get some ears on the ground? We need to know what they are saying!"

Rachel had slowly padded her way across the floor, mouth open and head shaking back and fourth. How could she have been so blind? She had given him the position as a Moon Base research operative. She had given him plenty of time and space to bust into their most advanced medical files, perform experiments and he had the perfect set of test subjects. How many nights had he come into her office while she was working and suddenly she could not stay off of him? How many nights did fights randomly break out all over the base? It was him, he was the reason that the normally quiet moon base was suddenly a raging cocoon of hormones. She looked at Nigel and felt her eyes begin to sting with the first hint of tears. She closed her eyes, bit her bottom lip and told herself no. NO! She continued to repeat to herself. The stinging sensation was soon replaced with a burning one, right in the pit of her stomach.

"Numbuh 1," she spoke through clenched teeth. The words straining to get free as she forced her jaw together.

He continued to stare at the screen with Hoagie on it, "Yes, Commander." He knew her tone. Although he himself had watch his deteriorating team for years and let it become the sort of black hole of dysfunction that A.P.P.L.E needed was no longer an option.

"I assume you have a plan."

That was the first time he smiled, "This plan as been on the back-burner for too long," he spun around in his chair and stood up to his full height as he slid his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, "But, I will need your official permission to carry it out."

Rachel walked over to one of the consoles and pushed a large red button. The room seemed to erupt with static and then it quickly subsided. A microphone popped out of the black metal shortly after and Rachel spoke clearly into it, "TND Commanding officers. Heads of Sectors, my most trusted operatives! I have spoken to Numbuh 1 and it is apparent that we have let to much slide in the name of 'peace.'" She reached out for Nigel with her hand, silently begging him to take it as she spoke, "A.P.P.L.E has infiltrated us. Our agents, our research, our Treehouses… OUR LIVES have been nothing but play things for them for a lot longer than any of us could have expected."

She flipped on the camera for the Commander Lock Down Center's lobby and watched as everyone stood completely still. Some people looked furious, others scared, some seemed to not care but that was just a defense mechanism. She knew what she was saying was terrifying, causing doubts in peoples minds as so how long they have actually been in control or if it had been a puppet show for longer than they knew. "All we have now is the ability to take this knowledge, knowing they have taken so much from us, and press forward." A few people cheered, others clapped, "I will be officially releasing certain people from their Lock Down Centers momentarily. In addition to that," she paused searching the screen for her trusted red-haired assistant, "Fanny! I need you to sign off on something. Get up to my quarters now!"

She watched as Fanny scrambled from the middle of the crowd and off screen.

"It is not my intention to alarm anyone, but trust no one." She stated, "Detainment of any operative I personally find suspicious will happen without a trial, without a TND jury and I promise that the punishment for betraying the TND will be nothing but horrific." She stopped again, to get her breathing back to normal. The organization that she personally headed up for so long was not something she was going to let crumble. "If I release you, you will receive a notice saying with or your teammates are also released. Stand by."

Fanny breathlessly burst through her door at that moment. She staggered forward, red hair pinned to her forehead from sweat, "Commander?"

"Ah, Fanny, write this out for me," Rachel started, "Numbuh 1 is hereby released from Commander Base as of 22:00 hrs EST. Also released, by permission of 362, is Abigail Lincoln aka Numbuh 5 and Numbuh 4, Wallabee Beatles." Fanny glanced up as though she were asking about the rest of them and Rachel gave no sign of continuing, "Numbuh 1, once you are in the vehicle bay, I will send a report to Lyra Desert saying that she is good to go. Do not waste any time getting back to your treehouse."

"Yes ma'am."

"Great straight there. Do you understand?"

He didn't, but he assumed he would understand once he got there. Without a word he grabbed the paper off of Fanny's clipboard and ran out of the door. He had very little time to do anything. First and foremost on his list was getting his second in command back to the way she was, the way she is going to need to be.

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	22. The Day the Levee Broke

**As promised, the second chapter of the day. Remember to read and review please!**

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"Well, what you think of everything that is going on?" a lanky, female operative had cornered Abby a while ago. She had initiated some poorly planned small talk in an attempt to get Numbuh 5 talking, but the Sector V agent was not giving much up. Strangely, Abby felt like she was being evaluated by this stranger. She had no idea who this gangly creature was or where she had come from.

Abby shook her head, "I'll wait for more information until I make an opinion." She states as she finishes the last of her bread and cheese. She silently scorned the Lock Down bases for not thinking of more substantial meals to feed it's inhabitants. She took a sip on milk and then placed all of her silverware and dishes on the tray provided to her before setting them aside and finally looking her dinner buddy in the eyes and asking, "Is there a reason you've come to me?"

"What do you mean," she seemed to recede into herself like a scared kitten.

"There are more than forty other second in command officers in this base yet you came to me as though I would know something they wouldn't?" Abby uncrossed her legs and leaned back on her hands. The linoleum flooring was cold to the touch. It was nice considering the air was hot and dry. Bits of sand rolled listlessly through out the area as people slowly started filing to their bunks for the night. "What is your name?"

"Penelope…"

"Stackholmes," Abby cut her off with a wave of her hand, "As in Sector O's second in command and gossip columnist. Should have known."

Penelope suddenly seemed less sheepish and more of a predator. She sat straight up and pushed back her hair. With the sudden dash of confidence she looked a super model, the Sector O operative, notorious for getting the scoop on peoples' lives. She sat Indian style and took a napkin to her face, whipping away the layer of oil she had somehow gotten on her face, all a ploy. She then reached in her bag and pulled out a compact mirror and several cases of makeup. As she began applying foundation she spoke, "You're good, Numbuh 5, very good." She spoke with a smirk that pissed Abby off more than it should have. She took a moment to look directly at the girl opposite her and said another statement that Abby wished she had punched her for, "Should have expected that from the notoriously resourceful _Numbuh 5_."

"Everyone has seen your blog once or twice," she grimaces, knowing that the agents of Sector V have been on their more than their fair share of times—she has been on there even more. "What do you want from me?"

She had moved on to doing her eye shadow, "Everyone is running about, slandering her name and his name in attempt to figure out what is going on. Most of us don't know anything passed, there was an infiltration of the conference base, a conference my sector was not invited to by the way," she touched on as she switched which eye she was working on, "But we hold no grudges. At least we avoided all of the nasty"—she paused to smirk at Abby again past her mirror—"details."

Numbuh 5 found herself gnawing at the inside of her cheek. As annoying as Numbuh 427 may have been, she may or may not have information Abby was not already privy to. The brown-haired girl in front of her finally finished her eye makeup and put all the cases of makeup back into her purse. She looked Abby dead in the eye as she spoke, "I just want to know, what Abigail Lincoln's view is on all of this."

"The reason being?"

With a sigh Penelope proceeded, "Everyone as been whispering this and that about Numbuh 2's incarceration. What happened?"

"What have you heard?"

"I've heard, from nameless sources of course, that Hoagie was not the best boyfriend and that you ratted him out as such."

Abby's eye started twitching. "Go on." She spoke through clenched teeth.

"I heard that you and Wally were awfully cozy at the conference base. Nineteen different operatives have come forth in saying that they saw you two together, care to comment?"

"Go on." The only response Abby was physically able to give without pouncing on the journalistic agent.

Penelope suddenly looked far too comfortable. Her shoulders were slack, her eyes half-lidded and her smirk widened by just a fraction of an inch. It was probably the most annoying part of this entire encounter for Abby. That was until the agent opened her mouth and said, "What people are mostly talking about, Abigail, is how the fabled Numbuh 5 has lost her edge."

It was a good long while before Abby felt herself breathe. The words were so utterly heinous that her brain and body had no way to make sense. It was like an out of body experience. So much of her personal life was known to a bunch of nosey half-wit agents who, honestly, couldn't do half the stuff she did and continues to do on a day to day basis. How many agents could go toe to toe with Cree? Even if she is her sister, the number is below ten. How many TND operatives can say that they were in the heart of A-Day and haven't been institutionalized? None but her. Even Numbuh 1 went to therapy after A-Day. How many agents can say that they have won every honorable award available in the TND? Two, and the other was decommissioned several years before she was even born.

Then again, she had allowed herself to get into an abusive relationship with a guy that she had to admit, no longer suited her romantically, emotionally or mentally. It was guilt that kept her with him and she knew that, she knew it for a long time to be the truth. To say that she loved Hoagie after all of the things he's done would be one of the biggest lies she ever told herself. It was the biggest lie she has told herself, she corrected during her introspection. She had let Cree get away with what she knew had to be some A.P.P.L.E experiment up at the lake house because she was to busy playing damsel to get her head in the zone. What happened to Abigail Lincoln, the TND operative who did what she wanted, when she wanted and how she wanted because she got results? She wasn't afraid of anyone or anything. She could do what other operatives couldn't and she did it with a grand amount of style. Abby felt her hand move before she could realize what was going on and her hand wrapped around Penelope's throat.

The skinny, tall girl tried standing, the tried ripping Abby's hand away from her neck, she even tried grabbing Abby's neck but failed when the combative girl grabbed her incoming wrist and twisted it sideways. As Penelope tried to cry out in pain, Abby tightened her grip so that no sound came out. "Listen to me and listen closely," Abby smiled, bringing Penelope closer to her face, "I would not have you to forget what I'm going to say or to misprint something on your blog. Do you understand? Are you listening?"

Penelope was given enough room to move her chin up and down. Her eyes were wide with fear and that gave Abby all the motivation in the world to say what she needed to say, "My name is Abigail Lincoln aka Numbuh 5. I am second in command of sector V. After a minor bout of indecision and bad choice-making it is clear to me that I've let myself get away from my core beliefs and practices. I have been weak minded and weak of spirit—that is over now." She dropped Penelope on the ground and began to walk in a slow, yet steady paced circle, as the brunette squirmed on the floor and tried to catch her breath, "I officially state that I, in addition to my teammates, will get to the bottom of the A.P.P.L.E funny business and in typical Numbuh 5 fashion, it will done swiftly with a lot of flare. You got that?"

Penelope frantically nodded as she crawled across the floor.

"Good."

The intercom to the base suddenly buzzed on and caused them both to pause, "Numbuh 5, paging Numbuh 5," there was a brief pause, "You are free to go by order of Commander 362."

Abby stood to her full height and watched the scared agent scamper away from her, "Good."

…

Wally lay in his Lock Down Base next to his trial experiment. He stared at the ceiling and no where else. He felt nothing. He did not enjoy what had just happened and he felt terrible about it. She, on the other hand, was clinging to him like it was Christmas morning and he was her new puppy. She had her head on his chest and arms around his torso. She was speaking, but he wasn't hearing any of it, he was elsewhere. His mind floated to Abby. He remembered his raunchy dreams, his daydreams of her, the first time they… Well, it didn't matter at that point. He had pretty much told her off and that was a stupid, stupid decision in hindsight he told himself. He could remember every detail of Abby's face and the way her body moved with his yet he couldn't remember what the girl's face looked like that was laying on him. Experiment failure.

"… and that's when I knew that I loved you."

Wally suddenly woke up from his dream state, "'Xcuse me?" he popped up onto his elbows.

She suddenly looked up at him, her makeup was ruined from the amount of sweating she had done. He hadn't broken a sweat at all, she made everything too easy for him and therefore completely unmemorable. "I just told you about how much I love you," she sat up, wrapping the blanket around her torso, "It's true. And now that you've taken my virginity, the virginity that I saved for you, we can commence with our lives together."

Wally jumped out of bed at that moment and started dressing himself wordlessly. "Fuck." He said as he pulled on his pants and fastened his belt. His shirt was neatly folded on a chair across the room. She had insisted on halting everything just to fold his shirt, it should have been a clear sign that he had found a crazy one. He repeated his curse word of choice as he dropped to the floor and searched for his socks.

"Wallabee?"

He sprang up and held a hand up to silence her, "Shiela, this was…" he paused to think of something less mean than horrible, "An experience, but, this," he waved a finger back and forth between himself and the girl on his bed, "Ain't gonna happen."

"But you…" she began to tear up.

Wally ran a finger through his golden locks and sighed heavily, "Yeah, I know what I did and I'm sorry," he was and he looked straight into her eyes when he said it, "But I'm knee deep in girl troubles right now and I don't need your craziness to add onto it."

As she started to ball into the blankets the intercom throughout the base began to buzz, "Wallabee Beetles aka Number 4, you are released by order of Sector V's commanding officer, Numbuh 1."

He didn't bother saying sorry to the girl again, he bolted out the door and down the corridors leading to the vehicle bay as fast as his fit legs would take him. He didn't look back, he didn't ask questions, he didn't so much as give the girl a second thought. The more he ran the more he forgot things about her, not that he knew all the much to begin with anyway. His vehicle was already brought around to the take-off area by the time he got to the landing bay, something he appreciated greatly even though he could only tip the operative who did it a stick of gum and a gift card to Dark Pole.

"Free at last, free at last," he sang as he fired up the engine. As soon as his navigation systems and communications synced up he received an incoming transmission. He didn't bother checking the caller ID button he just pushed the accept button, figuring it was Nigel.

"Numbuh 4," an bald face greeted him along with a waning English UK accent.

"Numbuh 1," he said back, curtly.

Nigel adjusted his sunglasses and laced his fingers together so that he could sit his chin on the bridge created, "Meet back at the treehouse."

Wally scrunched up his face. He didn't much like the attitude that he was getting from Numbuh 1, but of course he probably had to jump through some rather small hoops to spring him early and that probably left a sour taste in his mouth so, Wally let it slide. He nodded and killed the transmission without another word.

Minutes later another transmission was coming in. Again, he didn't bother with checking the Caller ID he just told the computer to accept the call. He was facing away from the screen at that point, focusing more on flying his aircraft manually just because he needed something to keep his mind off of things.

"Hey, big boy." A voice he wasn't expecting sent chills down his spine, "So, it took some doing, but I got you out of Lock Down."

He took a deep breath before even thinking about responding. He refused to turn around, "Abby…"

….

It was quiet in the Pahno Lock Down center. Everyone had been ordered to go to their quarters for the night as they waited for orders from the higher ups and everyone had gleefully gone to their rooms, all except for Hoagie. He had been forced into a temporary holding cell where his handcuffs had been reinforced and his sedative medicine tripled in dosage. He felt groggy, but it was the anticipation of his next move that forced enough adrenaline into his system to fight the medicine off. He rocked gently at the foot of his bed, humming to himself a song that he and Abby had called theirs at one point. The plan was so simple and with the help of that Amado kid it was sure to work.

Amado had approached him while scouting the hyperdriver area. They were typically used to transport documents and food supplies between the Lock down centers, but they were easily big enough to cloak Hoagie. He mapped out the security agent's patterns in great detail in his mind. He knew what time they switched and how long it took the next group of agents to assume their posts. He noted how many people their were around the hyperdrivers, there were five. He noted that two were always at the entrance of the tunnel, one on either side, that the hyperdrivers went through. There were two operatives posted on the platform set above the tunnel and one that drove the vehicles. All of them, and this was the most important thing to Hoagie, were strapped to the teeth with weapons. Anything went wrong, and they were well enough equipped to take care of it. Amado has ensured that he had some muscle on his end when he decided to go through as well, a tiny blaster, a prototype from Moon Base according to Amado.

Hoagie ran through their conversation about ten times since it had happened picking it apart trying to find out why the Amado kid so wanted to get to Lyra Desert. He did not care enough to ask about it at the time, they would have time on the hyperdrivers.

"The Legendary Hoagie Gilligan," Amado had appeared from behind a stack of crates next to the HyperDrivers tunnel. Hoagie had nearly jumped out of his skin when he thought he had been found out for his ill intent.

He stood at his full height and held out his hands to show that he meant no harm, "That would be me I guess." He swallowed back a few other words that he thought of to weasel away from the stranger.

Amado pushed back his black hair and held out his hands, palms toward Hoagie, "Relax," he said, "I need to get on those HyperDrivers too."

Hoagie did relax at that despite his suspicion radar going off in the back of his head. He leaned up against one of the crates and sighed, "I see…" A white envelope was suddenly thrust into his chest and his looked into Amado's pitch black eyes, "This is?"

Amado began to walk past Hoagie at that point, "You are a very interesting operative, Mr. Gilligan," he spoke with an accent more noticeable the further away he went, "I'll see you later."

After that Hoagie was ushered into his holding cell and told to keep quiet or else. He kept quiet especially since he did not want anyone strip searching him with that envelope in his pants. He would look at it eventually…

Hoagie eyed his door ruefully and continued to hum, "Eventually, eventually, the world will open up to us."

…

Kuki sat in her room, everything was still. She breathed in deep, allowing every single cell in her body to feel the rush of air. _Who are you_… she mentally asked the little girl in the purple sweatshirt in pigtails that plagued her dreams as of late. _TELL ME! _

__She doubled over in pain, clenched and pulled at her raven tresses and screamed as a massive headache overtook her. First there were images flashing by at the speed of light yet they could not have been more clear to her and then blackness. Quiet, deafening, silence.

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**Peace and love! ... well, not in this story it seems.**


	23. Haze

**Hey, hey, hey. Yes**!

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Wally stared at the face in his screen without saying anything a lot longer than a normal person would have. "A…Abby." He stuttered again. He couldn't help but feel almost guilty about sleeping with the girl in the base on minutes before hand even though he could barely remember her name… what was it again?

Abby straightened in her chair, her seatbelt accentuating her voluptuous chest, he felt his entire body shudder. He took a deep breath and remembered that he was trying to get over her. He was not allowed to have these feeling for her anymore, they had agreed that it was the stone's fault and nothing more. So he tried not to focus on her full lips and golden-brown skin. "You got released too?" he asked, keeping his voice steady although the rest of him was quaking.

Abby spoke to him as frankly as she could. She wanted to keep any flirty undertone out of her inflections as humanly possible but while looking into his green eyes she could only wish he was sticking to his whole Game-Buddies decision. She was struggling. Deciding to call him was not a good idea, she mused to herself. Too late now. "Numbuh 4, good to see you were released as soon as you were." She stated, Wally didn't quite like how she used his formal title, "Numbuh 1 has given us orders that are to be carried out before arriving at the treehouse."

Abby got him released; his head was spinning yet somehow kept the flood of emotions from his face. How could he even think that girl would satisfy his needs? She laid there like a dead fish while he exerted energy not worth the occasion, Abby is a lioness in the sack. He liked that. "Yes, Numbuh 5, I am listening." His decision to use her title instead of her name did not go unnoticed as she faltered a bit. He saw it.

She cleared her throat before beginning, "He needs you to drop by the Sector H treehouse and erase every shred of data they have in their system. It was divulged, thanks to Commander 362's information gathering techniques, that they were keeping data on us. They hacked our systems and were monitoring us. They managed to delay our alarms, and hack our transmissions."

"That explains a lot," Wally nodded his head. "That doesn't seem to warrant us going in and erasing every bit of data they have though. 362 can have her official squad do it without hindering us."

Abby puckered her lips and glanced off to the side of her screen. She seemed to be mulling something over in rapid fire succession through her own mind. She took a deep breath before speaking, "They stole EVERY bit of data, including the ones in Numbuh 1's external harddrive. The one with Kuki's mind wipe data on it."

Wally felt himself jolt unintentionally. He had not been expecting that at all. "Why does he have that?!" he suddenly stood up, "Why the fuck does he have that!"

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Wally snapped back. Although he had been sleeping around behind Kuki's back, although he had not at all been faithful he was under the impression that data had been deleted or at least placed in the Decommissioning vault where the higher ups would guard it until the end of time. He was insulted for Kuki that her thoughts, her memories, were just sitting so carelessly, so aimlessly on Numbuh 1's computer. On top of that, how could Abby find that okay? Kuki's deep dislike for her steamed from the data on that disk for goodness sakes! What were they thinking? Did Abby know that it wasn't in the vault, had she joined Numbuh 1 on a joyous romp through Kuki's personal thoughts?

Abby had gone silent on her side of the screen, she probably should have presented that information with more grace and tactfulness but she did not expect him to snap at her the way he did. A pang of anger went through her for several reasons: this was official TND information she was dishing out and she was, in fact, his senior officer and she had gotten him out of the base on her own whim, otherwise he was still be rotting away in there. Not to mention that she was trying to be calm and think of his feelings already so he should at least try to hold back his tantrum. Time was running out of Nigel's timeline and she really did not have time to deal with his outburst so she attempted to press on, "Numbuh 4, I will be…"

"Did you know it was in the treehouse?" he yelled.

"Numbuh-"

"DID YOU?"

Abby snapped this time, something she never thought she would have to do, "I am your senior officer and I order you to stand down!" she yelled.

At first Wally just froze midway between sitting and standing. His green eyes burned with what could only be betrayal, hurt, and pain. He stared at the image on his screen for several long seconds before plopping himself back into his chair and deflating. His shoulders slumped and his head bowed. Something confusing stirred within him, something that forced him to regard the person in front of him as a stranger. She had never pulled rank on him before, even when he argued. He glared up at his screen through his blond hair, "Second in command," he spoke with such acid in his voice, "Numbuh 5, please forgive me for my insolence."

Abby just sighed in exasperation. What she had done, she wondered. To pull rank on Wally of all people. Something swam around in her gut and she dismissed it. She was Numbuh 5, one of the deadliest operatives in the TND. Only she had gone toe-to-toe with Cree and survived the encounter in recent years. She held every medal known to the TND with honors. She was brave, strong, and immovable. She was who other operatives hopes to become with years of hard work and dedication. She was second in command of Sector V. "I will meet up with you at their treehouse to provide back up in the event that any of Father's operatives are there to give you trouble." She noticed Wally was preparing to protest and she cut him off with a swift motion of her hand, "Not negotiable."

"Yes, Numbuh five." Again, his tone cut at her.

Abby tried hard to keep her face as stony as possible, but she felt her lip twitch and knew he saw it. If he wanted to be that way in a time of what could only be war, then so be it. She will keep him in line as Numbuh One asked her to. "Numbuh 5 out." And she cut the transmission. Spinning around in her chair she heaved out a sigh and spoke into the hull of her ship, "That could have gone better."

…

Nigel sat in his room office in Sector V's treehouse going over what data was stolen. He could not believe that Sector H had been stealing information from them. For how long, he wondered. Days? Weeks? Months? He grabs a cup of coffee, black, and looks at the murky liquid. He may have managed to convince the Commander of the TND that he was confident, but he was anything but. The entire ride back to the treehouse was wrought with horrible images of A-Day and shivers. His hands were still shaking with rage and, he had to admit, fear. Pure unbridled terror gripped at his very core unlike anything he had ever felt before. He was too young to really understand the full spectrum of consequences that A-Day and brought but now, older and wiser, he new that if this were another war, it would be worse this time.

His thoughts go back to the empty hard drive he had stupidly left unprotected and connected to his computer when the lock down took effect. How could have been so careless with information so sensitive as Kuki's mind wipe? It was not an easy thing to do to convince TND Decommissioning officers to let him have the data and he lost it. It's not like his intentions were honorable, but he was trying to help her. The plan was so simple, reorder the data so that she remembered what had happened but would not feel so angry about it. All of his sequences, all of his behavioral studies, all of his corresponding emails with the TND neurology team—gone. The worst part being that he knows, as well at the Neurology team, that the wall would not hold forever. They were working against a clock with Kuki and now, Nigel feared, the time would run out, the wall would break and he would have a Kuki unlike the one he has known for years to contend with along with Hoagie on top of this potiential A-Day 2 situation. His head spun with possibilities.

"Damn," he threw the coffee cup across the room as he rose angrily from his seat, "FUCKING DAMNIT!" His voice bounced off of his poster-clad walls and the clatter from his thrown monitor rang loudly. He and Sector V were in real trouble if the knowledge of his plan came out to the rest of TND. Not even 362 knew he had that data. His question, as terrifying as it was to ask himself, was why Sector H had not released their evidence. Did the lockdown delay their plans? Or maybe they were working for Father undercover. Once he grasped at one straw as a solution three other possibilities erupted from his worst nightmares.

Reaching into his desk drawer, Nigel pulls out a flask. He curses a few more times into the darkness as he unscrews and tips the entire thing upward, guzzling the contents. His throat burned as the liquid passed down the soft lining and soon his stomach was on fire as well. He waited for the alcohol to take effect, dizzying his mind, clouding his already bad decisions. He could only hope that Numbuhs four and five would retrieve the data from Sector H's treehouse and return in a timely fashion. He trust them… but even as he thought of their extreme heroics of the past he couldn't help remember the fact that they were in their own shit that was being more bad karma to the team.

When did his team become the cast for a soap opera? Another swig and he let the warmth take him. He would sober up in time but for now he needed this break. He felt light and carefree. A temporary paradise.

…

Wally arrived at Sector H's treehouse first, waiting outside for a moment to size up the joint. Much like his base, it was a hulking structure that erupted from the top of someone's house. Certain adults just never ask questions, he mused. He couldn't see any activity in the treehouse itself, but that was normal. Unless someone was chilling on the balcony, he would not have seen them anyways. He checked his set of weapons, limited by what happened to be in his vehicle, and checked his watch again. He could wait a few more moments for Abby to get there, but he did not want to see her before he absolutely had to anyways. He moved towards the house.

The front door was open, normal, all TND operative parents seemed to be absolutely oblivious to things like security. Of course, they were all pretty much mind altered so it did not really matter. The house was pretty standard. Nice furniture in the living room and an almost spotless kitchen. He paused to grab some cookies out of a cookie jar and then kept going towards where he assumed the elevator to the treehouse would be. While munching on the cookie he notices a strange control panel near a closet door, "Bingo."

He had to use the TND override code that Abby—Numbuh Five had _sent_ to him instead of calling him back. He pushed the buttons way harder than needed but he still was not over her complete lack of tact. She must have known that Nigel had that information and she never thought to tell him. They had played many video games, hung out many nights when he was bored and Hoagie had beat her. Even recently with their newly developed and awkward relationship she should have found time to tell him.

The elevator up to the base took just long enough for him to feel the crushing weight of everything and then realize that he is still technically on a mission. With the door opened up to complete darkness he stepped out as quietly as possible. He had not put his night vision goggles so he was completely blind. With one hand firmly on his gun, he reached out with his free hand to make she he did not run into anything, or worse, anyone.

"What took you so long?" a familiar voice called out to him.

He both relaxed and cringed at the sound of Abby's voice if that was humanly possible. At least she was not an A.P.P.L.E agent. "You got a flash light?" he asked frankly, hoping she had not seen the display of emotions on his face.

_Was this to be their interaction style from now on, who can be the most callous_, he wondered as the sound of something hitting the floor softly came to him from across what he imagined to be a vast room. As her steps got close he steadied himself.

"You want to tip off every one of Father's agents that some agents are not in lock down?" she said sarcastically.

Wally then felt her long, slender fingers run through his hair. He managed to hold back a shiver and flinched a bit as spandex straps were slapped onto the back of his head. Goggles, she had an extra pair of night vision goggles. He pushed her hands away as soon as he realized and began setting them to his face on his own. "Thanks." It was curt, no emotion, and not full of gratitude at all.

Now that he could see her, it was harder to keep himself so stoic. He was angry, yes but he had also missed her presence. Something seemed to have reawakened inside of her as well. She stood straight up, shoulders back and every muscle in her body was drawn taught. She was a lioness again, not the scared kitten of a shadow. When she opened her mouth the purpose that saturated her words made him want to obey her, "I found their main computer, they keep it up stairs in what I suspect was their commander's quarters. You go up there grab their hardrives and meet me back down here." He merely watched her as she scanned the room, slowly crouching as she spoke, "I suspect we'll have company sooner rather than later."

Wally watched er move across the flow like a cat. Evvery part of her body moved with the same amount of all-knowing purpose that her words were soaked in. "What do you mean you suspect?" he managed to ask, moving towards a staircase that she pointed at when she told him what to do.

"Moles, Numbuh 4. We have to assume that Father already knows that three Sector V operatives have been let out of lock down, which _Numbuh 5_ suspects," Wally shuddered at the unveiling of her old self coming back, "That is where he wanted us in the first place. All in the same place. Easy pickings." She turned around to look at him frozen in place on the stairs and smiled, "Now get. I've got more traps to set. Five minutes."

With that, Wally was running up the stairs.

It was hard to figure out which room belonged to the commander and which rooms belonged to the other conniving members of Sector H. The commanders room had a huge 45 painted on the door. Wally wasted no time bursting in.

On the walls were many photos, all of them of Sector V. The treehouse, just the outside. The team leaving the treehouse. There photos of them at the milkshake shop they all used to go to. A photo of Kuki and himself holding hands caught his eye. Pictures of Nigel and Lizzy, Abby and Hoagie in embrace. Pictures of their houses. Wally felt his breathing becoming labored as he looked to the other walls. The ones over the bed were more recent, darker. Abby's drunken romp through the forest by the lake house. A picture of him smoking the hookah on the balcony. To his dismay, a picture of Kuki on his back on the beach and one with him locking lips with Abby are side by side as though they were taunting him. He felt his head spin. With a yell he ripped as many photos off the wall as he could, tearing some and stomping on others. Numbuh 45 was a stalker. He was documenting them for what? Sick pleasure or for something far more nefarious? Hyperventilation, sweaty palms, Wally felt as though his head were going to explode.

Then he felt the floor shake.

For a brief moment he thought that he was still reacting to the creepy mural of his and his team mates lives but the loud crack from below him told him otherwise. He spun around, waiting to see flames but none came rushing up towards him, must have been an outside explosion, one of Abby's traps. "Fuck!" he ran to the door to yell down the hallways, hoping Abby was still alive to hear him, "Numbuh 5!"

No answer from her but the distinctive pinging of a laser going off could be heard. She was okay, for now at least. He ran back into the room and looked around for a hard drive. He then realized that an external hard drive could be as small as his fingernail. He tossed the monitor on the ground and began rummaging through the many cabinets and draws of Numbuh 45's desk. He comes across a plethora of porno magazines, books of hacking a journal and several labeled photo albums. Without really thinking about it he grabs them all and then the PC below the desk.

Abby came bursting through the door at the moment, sweaty, out of breath yet still as majestic as she could be. She eyed him hopefully and Wally holds up what he's got. With a shrug she blast a hole in the wall and grabs him by the collar of his shirt, something she used to do back in the day, and jumps. What he expects to be a long fall to his death turns into a cushy landing in her flying vehicle. As Abby brings the roof over their heads he catches a glimpse of two people he never thought he would see with blasters in their hands again, Mushi and Tommy.

Everything is dizzy, nothing makes sense.

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**I'm trying, guys, really. Just keep reminding me that you are reading the story and I will keep on making updates. I just don't think about it if people aren't reading it, you know? But we are nearing crunch time in this story and I feel more rampant updates coming. So, just stick here! Thanks for all the support!**

**Read and Review as always.**

**Favorite and stuff. Yeah!**


	24. Gifts

**So, I worked really hard on this chapter and I hope you guys like it. Have fun reading!**

**3RottenRogue**

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Hoagie received a knocking at his door in the lock down base early in the morning. Expecting the doctor, he hid the manila envelope under his thin mattress and sat completely upright. Over the last few days he has been on his best behavior at the lock down base so he would not attract any unwanted attention while he went about his day. During his free time, when he was allowed to roam the base on his own, he would walk around and meticulously note where each guard was. He noted when they changed shifts during the day and even which ones were an actual threat to his escape plan. Two in particular drew his constant attention; a woman, only a few years older than he was but just as big and a guy with dreadlocks who looked oddly familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it. He knew he could take them out with a little cunning if the occasion were to call for it. The door clicked open and in strolled Amado in a white lab coat, hands coolly placed in his pocket.

His dark eyes scanned over Hoagie and he smirked, "Mr. Gilligan," he picked up a clipboard attached to the side of Hoagie's bed and began to flip through the papers.

Hoagie felt a certain rage well up inside of him, "So, you were just a doctor the whole time?" he questioned, voice strained, "You were just here to trick me?" He rose up and started towards Amado—if that was his real name.

Amado did not flinch as the mass that was Hoagie came straight for him, he only held up his hand, "Easy there big boy," he told the goliath, "If you would kindly follow me." The flourish of a hand gesture that was made after made Hoagie raise an eyebrow. Amado, seeing that the operative was not going through the door without him, decides to go through it first.

Hoagie watched Amado disappear into the hallways before going to grab the envelope he was given before. Stepping out into the hallway was surreal. All of Hoagie's guards and doctors lay on the cold floor, unmoving. The base was considerably darker as well. Hoagie warily eyed Amado and stopped walking next to the inanimate body of his shrink, "Did you do this?" he called to Amado who's strides were long and liltful over the bodies.

Amado did not stop walking or look back when he answered in a factual tone, "Yes, I did, Mr. Gilligan."

Hoagie decided to stay close to him and ran forward. He passed several faces, some he knew and some he did not. He had an equally nonchalant reaction to each and every seemingly sleeping face as the last. "Are they dead?" he asked.

Amado noticed that he did not ask out of concern just out of curiosity and smirked again even though he knew his compatriot could not see it, "No, merely sleeping."

"Oh," was the only response Hoagie gave.

They found their way through the maze hallways a lot faster than normal thanks to the lack of busy bodies rushing around and stopped at the tunnels that connected to the Lyra Lock Down. Hoagie felt himself become giddy with excitement. He was going to do it, he was going to get to Abby and take her away to a place where they could be together forever. Away from that cursed Wally, his demented and half empty girl friend and TND as a whole. In the midst of his fantasies he turned to Amado, he stood up tall and with an air of confidence that Hoagie could not quite understand. He just looked to sure of himself and Numbuh 2 was not liking it. "So what now?" Hoagie asked.

"Well," Amado began, taking off his lab coat and throwing it onto the face of a near by tram worker, "That's up to you. As I recall, you wanted to get to Lyra and this tube will take you there." He then took out a pair of keys and threw them to Hoagie, who caught them, "These are the keys to a Tram so you get there faster."

"Th- thanks I guess." Hoagie said starting for one of the white and blue trams.

"However," Amado stopped him by walking in between the much larger boy and the door of the vehicle, "I don't think you'll find what, or should I say, _who_ you are looking for there." He mused, smirk never leaving his face.

Hoagie stiffened, all joy gone from his face. He bit his lip angrily and then looked away from the person in front of him. Abby was not there. "Where is she? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?" he yelled, throwing the keys down the tunnel.

The faint sound of metal hitting metal sounding and echos off the concrete walls. "I have not done anything to her, my friend. She had merely been released from her lock down holdings."

"Numbuh 1…"

"Yes."

Hoagie shuttered and his breathing became heavier, more ragged, "Where is she now."

This time Amado laughed out loud. "Honestly, she just had a tousle with Mushi and Tommy but-"

"Tommy?" Hoagie stopped.

"That's right," he paused and made sure that Hoagie caught his eye, "Tommy is up and running again. Figuratively and literally." Amado then extended his hand, "If you agree to come with me and hear me out, I will take you to him."

Hoagie probably should have thought about his decision longer than he did but there was no thinking when it came to his brother. Before he even knew his body was reacting his hand was extending towards Amado's. When they shook, it was as though Hoagie was about to see everything in a new light, everything was clear to him now. He was going to see his brother walk again. He was going to join a force that was going to help him get what he wanted. "Let's go." He agreed.

…

The jet was fast, but Wally's thoughts were moving faster than anything he could have ever imagined. Mushi, kidnapped years ago after being put in the hospital, was standing there before his eyes. Tommy, who he was so she was stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, was _standing_ there before his eyes. He was not making heads or tails of any of it. He sat across the jet from where Abby sat piloting it only staring at the back of her head. To speak, to move would have made him feel as though everything were real and he could have done nothing to stop the onslaught of questions in his mind.

As though she were reading his mind Abby looked over her shoulder momentarily to say, "If I said I did not know about Tommy being out of his chair, would you feel better?" she asked robotically. She would have done anything to kill the silence between them. Wally did not respond, he looked zombified huddled in his corner. The blank stare he gave her told her that her words were not quite reaching him. "I'm sorry," she paused, "Wally, I am sorry. But as second in command Nigel trusted me with certain information that I could not share… with anyone."

"So you knew," his voice came out raspy, "About Mushi."

Abby took a moment to string together her sentence carefully, "I knew Father most likely had her. My suspicions were confirmed when she pressed a lazer blaster to the back of my head. But no, Numbuh one never outright told me she was working with Father's crew. Nor did Cree." Abby tried to make it sound funny but the strain in her voice was easily noticed to someone like Wally who knew her better than she knew herself sometimes.

Wally took a moment to register her fear and decided to trust that what she told him was the truth. However, knowing how crafty Numbuh 5 was with what she said and how she said it, he decided to chose his questions carefully, starting with, "Would you have told me if you had known? Even if Numbuh one told you not to?"

"No," she stated regretfully.

"Would you tell me the truth now?"

Abby sighed, rather loudly, and banked to the left in the jet. "We can't do this now, Numbuh 4."

"When then?" he stood up and started walking towards her chair. "I need to know when would be a good time for my heart to stop twisting itself out of existence, shiela? I need to know when I can stop wondering whether I want to be with you, be in you or be with Kuki." He stopped just behind her chair so that when he bent over to whisper in her ear his breath would lick her earlobe the way he knew she liked, "I think I love you but, how could I love someone who is so willing to keep secrets from me?"

"Numbuh 4 please," she squeaked. Her throat tightened up.

"I need to know," He turned her swivel chair around so that they were close enough to exchange breaths, "Please."

The way his big green eyes peered at her through a tangle of blond hair seemed to melt whatever resolve she built up. The more she stared into them, the more she felt the pang of everything. The late night meetings with Wally, the kissing and longing glances they shared weighed down on her. She felt the pain of knowing just how much she was hurting Kuki, first with her sister and now by sleeping with her boyfriend. She could not help but come down on herself for being unfaithful to Hoagie and too much of a coward to get out of an abusive relationship. Coward. She had been a coward.

"No." Numbuh five said with such force, Wally removed backed up a bit, "No!" she said much louder. "You don't get it. We are in the middle of a war and no matter how many times you bat those big green eyes at me, we can't fix it like this! We can't!"

Wally looked hurt beyond human reason. A wounded animal in a tank with a shark. There was no escaping from the fiery glare his second in command was giving him and he felt himself becoming a bit defensive. He may have backed away but he did not feel defeated, getting out of Abby's reach was a strategic move. "I deserve answers, Abigail!"

"You will get your answers when, Numbuh One says you can have answers, Wallabee." And with that she spun back around in her chair, fingers deftly poking at a few buttons and at the touch screen scanners. She thought that would be it for the conversation. She had said it forcefully and hoped that Wally got her point. However, the sudden rush of wind that sent her hair whirling in front of her face made her realize that this conversation was not over.

The burst of air first sent her forward towards the screens and then started pulling her towards the door. She glanced behind her, heart pounding but tried to remain calm as her body was being dragged towards the wide open cabin door. "Are you fucking insane?" She screamed over the rushing air. She managed to grab hold of her bolted down chair that she had been flipped backwards out of,and held tight, cursing more.

Wally held onto a bar next to the door with one hand and in his other he dangled the Central processor from Sector H's computer out the door. Wally looked her dead in the eye, "I swear I will throw this shit out of this plane. I swear it, shiela!" he extended his hand a littler further.

"You ARE insane!"

"Answers," he said faking the CPU, "Now!"

Abby could feel her fingers slipping from the bolted chair. Momentary panic gripped her. Would Wally really let her fall out of a mile-high plane? Would he let her die because of his curiosity? Did he deserve the answers she was so zealously holding on too? The answers to all were no, and knowing that, Abby let go of the chair willingly.

She felt the weightlessness of being lifted off of the cabin floor, she almost enjoyed the sensation of being sucked towards her certain doom. Closer and closer she got, worrying that she was wrong. Ten feet quickly turned into five. She tried to slow her creep towards the door by clawing at the carpeting of the cabin but it was no use with the momentum she had built up. Once her shoe had exited the cabin she decided to just let it happen.

Suddenly Wally's hands were wrapped around her wrists and she had been stopped. The split second between her villainous hero pulling her in and her almost drop allowed her enough time to see how close to dying she was. Both shins were dangling out of the plane and she had lost a shoe to the rough winds. She looked up at Wally, his face a contorted mess of different conflicting emotions and watched him grunt and struggle to pull her in. If he lost his footing, they were both goners but he had saved her. That was something.

Once fully inside the plane, Abby quickly pushed the button that controls the door and set it to security lock. It would now only open to her touch and she could not risk another Wally outburst before reaching the Treehouse. He lay panting before her, harddrive discarded carelessly on the floor to the side. Without thinking she pounced on him, legs squeezing his sides so hard that she could have cracked his ribs if she wanted, just a little extra force and she could. She grabbed a stray wire from one of the control panels and yanked it, hard, pulling it free so she could wrap it around Wally's neck. "YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN AND I WILL EITHER KILL YOU OR HAVE YOU DECOMISSIONED!" she watched him claw at his throat in a feeble attempt to put space between his neck and wire wrapped taught around his windpipe. "Do you understand?" she asked him in a strained voice.

Wally could feel his eyes starting to bulge out of his skull and quickly nodded up and down as far as his head could. Abby unwrapped the wire and he gasped for air, drinking it in as much he could. He rubbed at the indentation left on his skin; it was an angry red that stung like fire when his fingertips came into contact with it. It dared to glare up at Abby, her face still a masterpiece of rage and fear. He felt bad for getting her so close to the edge but he was on edge, he just wanted answers, "Abby," his voice came out raspy and weak, "Sheila. I…"

Abby let up on the weight crushing his ribs and despite her own breathlessness hushed him and began to speak, "Don't you Sheila me. I could have died!" she threw the wire away in disgust, "And now I'm wishing I could just kill you and be done with this bull."

She lifted herself off in one swift motion. Wally lifted himself up onto his elbows and watched her pace back and forth in front of him, one of her slender fingered hands ran halfway threw her hair and then grabbed at the braids. He remembered when he told her to get them. "Jesus, Wally." She said at the floor before push-kicking a chair across the room, "What the hell is wrong with you!" When he did not answer she crossed the room in three long strides and was in his face again, clutching at his collar, he merely cupped her hands in his and stared directly into her eyes.

He waited until her gripped let up before he pulled them away from his, now torn, shirt. As slowly and as gently as his beaten up body would allow, he stood, using Abby's hands to pull her up with him. A moment passed, his shining green eyes looking into her bright brown ones and he knew she understood his hurt. He was acting out of pure unbridled hurt. For Kuki or for Abby herself, she could not be sure but in the spirit of their past friendship she owed him the hug she wrapped him in. She owed him time to cry into her chest. So when he did bend over and begin to weep onto her shoulder and clutch her tighter, she let him. Every time he shook with sobs, she willingly shook with him. She stroked his golden blond hair and told him it would be okay, not knowing if it would ever be okay. For them, for the organization, for anybody now that the TND was a broken mess, now that he knew he had been lied to for most of his TND life. Would Abby be okay, she wondered about herself for a moment, when she inevitably went up against Cree? As Wally wailed again, Abby knew that she would find out sooner than she would like to.

…

Father stood before his congregation of A.P.P.L.E agents and various contributors. Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb were sitting side by side, exchanging hushed words amongst themselves as Candybeard sat sucking on a lollipop, his candy pirates surrounding him. Soccer Mom and Soccer Dad sat close by, disgusted by their sticky comrades and they shared this disgust with some Teen Ninjas and Mr. Fizz, who seemed to have squirted soda from his nose and was in an immense amount of pain. The entirety of the congregation seemed to be buzzing in the large convention room of Father's mansion. The murmur of various conversations and the occasional outburst sent chills up Father's spine. He had put so much work, time and effort into getting all of these people together. The amount of research done for the stones and the work his Delightful Ninjas had put in was now before him.

He raised a hand to silence the crowd; they obeyed instantly, fearing his fiery wrath. He cleared his throat and raised the microphone on his lectern up so that he could speak into without having to bend over. "Greeting and Salutations to colleague and ninja alike," he began in a polite tone that seeped calmness, "Thank you for making the trip here for those of you who have come from a far." He gestured to the area where Count Spankulot and a very skinny Hienrich Von Marzipan sat. Each returned his acknowledgment with a curt nod.

"This day has been in the making for years!" a small flame erupted around him as his voice rose and quickly died out with his inflection, "We have logged countless hours of careful, tedious planning. We have sent in spy after spy after damn spy to collect the smallest bits of information to relay and use against the _TND_," the whiny voice he used to say the name of his opposition sent the crowd into a fit of cheers, he only spoke louder as his flames seemed drink in the noise, "We have entered the final phase of this plan and this phase requires that all who are in, are briefed on exactly what is expected of them. You will also be required to donate a hefty sum of money," the cheering died out and he quickly added, "Look, ninjas don't work for free and mine are the best. Your money will be returned to you with interest as soon as the TND is taken down."

"How much are we talking here, Father?" Mr. Boss came strolling in from the back of the room, cigar lit.

Father's fire slowly died down to a soft glow and he took a puff from his pipe, "I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show."

"Answer the question.

Father fought back his first instinct, which was to light the hunchback on fire, and took a deep breath, "Depends on who wants to off their favorite operative."

One small whisper from the crowd quickly turned into an explosion of noise. Villains were shouting out numbers and throwing whatever wasn't bolted to the floor in anger. Father enjoyed the sight and was pleased to see that his plan was working. Once he had seen and heard enough, he raised his hand to silence them again. "Before this meeting continues, I wish to honor one of us. The man who made this all possible, the man who gives those pesky TND pukes nightmares, the man who grew into his own," the people were already cheering before he could say the name, "THE TOILENATOR!"

From behind the thick red draperies behind Father first came a single strand of white cloth, perforated every few inches with skulls designed into every square. A second later came another, plunging deep into the wooden stage, splinters flying into the crowd. Another followed, going way across the room, over the crowd and wrapping around a tapestry pole, others followed suit. Several more toilet paper ropes came barreling from behind the curtain until finally two ropes spread the velveteen drapes aside and from the darkness emerged a much thicker, confident and well muscled man in yellow spandex came strolling through, arms raised to the crowd as though he were conducting their cheers. "Toilenator! Toilenator! Toi-Le-NATOR!" the screamed at him. Father relinquished his spot in front of the lectern, clapping as he stepped away, and the Toilenator adjusted the height of the microphone.

"My fellow A.P.P.L.E members," He addressed the crowd. His characteristic lilt in voice had long since gone, replaced instead by a bass filled blast of a voice. A few more people shouted his name and how much they loved him. He was a legend now, no longer the laughing stalk of the adult villains. "We have them on single ply ropes right now, my people!" they cheered, "They are only moments away from falling, moments away from failing, moments away from tearing apart and when they do WE WILL BE THERE with arms wide open!" More cheers. His toilet paper snakes were squirming about behind him, the ones that were hanging off the stage were being stroked by a few female ninjas below, "I present to you a driving force in my entourage," he gestured to the two figures walking up behind him, "Mushi Sanban," he motioned towards the black-haired beauty on his right, "and little Tommy Gilligan."

At the sound of his last name the room went deathly silent. From way back a "No fucking way," was heard but no one moved. The Toilenator seemed to relish in the moment. He had been presented with Tommy a few days prior and immediately put him to work with Mushi. They were his first real victims and it seemed only right to have them at his every beck and call as they neared the precipice of A.P.P.L.E.S grand take over. "He is on our side," he told them all gently, "Just as his brother soon will be." He expected the sudden eruption of sound. It engulfed him. It made every inch of him tingle deep down inside and he loved it. Soon the sea of incoherent sounds turned into his name again, "TOILENATOR!"

Father moved for the lectern again, the Toilenator gladly stepping back as he no longer had need of fighting for attention and praise. Before Father let him go, however, he pulled the toilet themed villain close and whispered something in his ear, "I want you side of things moving along now. I will brief the others once they have made their generous donations. I expect you have everything you need."

The Toilenator smiled at his friend and nodded shortly, "You have nothing to worry about. With these gifts you have given me," he looked at his two commanding ninjas, "I am as close to unstoppable as anyone can get."

Father gave his lead man a strong pat on the shoulders and let him go back through the curtains. When he turned back to the gathering of people he said only a few words, "I expect your donations by sundown."

Behind the curtain and out the back door, The Toilenator, Mushi and Tommy all made quickly for his Toile-Copter. The villain sat comfortably on his stool and let Mushi handle all the flight details, Tommy took command of systems and weapons. Once in the air, he told his ninjas in the most abrupt way, "Are you both ready for the next few days?"

"Yes, sir." They both said in unison.  
"And you will obey me without question."

"Yes, sir!"

"You will kill at my command?"

Without missing a beat they both stated a clear and unwavering, "Yes, sir."

The Toilenator relaxed a little at that and sunk little deeper into his toilet shaped commanders chair, "Good. Very good."

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	25. Girl Fright

**Sorry it's been a bit. I am still updating though! And guys remember, even though I'm not updating here, I'm still reading your stories. Got a story you think I will like, comment and let me know! Thanks!**

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Father sat in his reclining chair, legs crossed, as his hoard of ninjas sat around the room taking calls and crunching numbers. Chad and Cree were supervising for the most part, unless he required one of them to go fetch him more tea. This was the easy part, he knew it. Collecting the donations was so simple and effecting that he was almost mad he had not thought of it before. However, this plan, through it's time consuming procreation, had become so utterly amazing he could not think of any way it could fall apart… as long as everyone played their part. And they would play their parts brilliantly.

He glanced upward at the donation ticker he had built into the wall above his fireplace. It showed the current amount of donations received and who currently held the pleasure of destroying the TND operative of their choosing as long as the matched his asking price or outbid someone else. He offered them as a Sector deal and as individuals, so far most people were going for them as individuals. He flipped through the long list with his remote, Sector W was the first one to be brought out as a group for a mere cool million. This surprised him, they put up quite during his Delightful Children's birthday celebration a long time ago. However, they had not done much since so, more power to Mr. Frybingle. He saved up a lot of his meager teacher's salary to gain three fun new toys when the time came.

He flipped to the screen with Sector V on it and smiled. They were going to make his filthy, stinking rich. The bids on Numbuh 3 alone were reaching into the billions and climbing. Numbuhs 5 and 1 were closing in on trillions. The biggest pains in his ass were very popular. He had given thought to bidding on them himself, however, with Nigel being his nephew, he thought it best to stay out of it and let others do as they please.

"Father!" a voice from behind his chair called him and he immediately brought his pipe up to his mouth, lit it and took a slow, calming, puff. "Father, it's the mole."

A cell phone appeared over his shoulder and took it, putting it to his ear, "Amado," he said, a gray cloud came from his mouth.

There was a rustling on the other end and then a husky, deep response, "Father," the sound of an engine starting up was heard next, "He is on board. You can take him off the Sector V options now."

Father felt himself grow very excited hearing this and had to work very hard not to flare up, there were a lot of important papers in the room after all. "It seems to good to be true, this was done rather painlessly, it seems."

There was a pause, Not entirely, sir…" Father could almost feel something ridiculous coming, "His only requests are that he gets to see his brother…"

"Easy enough," Father hastily interrupted.

"And that Abigail Lincoln be given the chance to join the organization."

"WHAT!"

Several ninjas, phones and folders were suddenly thrown backwards by the burst of flame. Screaming and the thumps could be heard, but Father paid them no mind. Ninjas from the far side of the room quickly ran over to snuff out their companions. Chad was amongst the group closest to Father and was blasted across the room, into a group of lower grade ninjas and bookshelves.

"CHAD!" Cree ran across the room, flipping over a fallen ninja operative and an incoming chair.

Chad's armor was not up when the blast went off. A lot of ninja's did not have their armor up. Cree caught sight of father as she went leaping her way to Chad. When she reached the pile of people and wood she knew he was under, she began flinging bodies aside, caring very little if they were injured or not. She found Chad and three other people trapped under a large stack of thick books. She called her lover's name again, hoping he would wake up—he didn't. There was a gash on the right side of his head, bleeding profusely and mixing with the blood of others around him. Another heat wave sent Cree to her knees in pain, but moments later she was up again, trying to lift the books off of the three unconscious people.

"Chad wake up!" She screamed.

Father was standing now, yelling into the phone, "Explain to me, Amado, why you thought that was an acceptable term. She is making me trillions right now." His tone was calm but bit with anger and malice.

"Father!" Cree called.

On the other end of the phone Amado chuckled, "Sir, if I did not think that they would both be valuable assets to you, I would not have even entertained the thought. You hired me because I am very much a genius."

"She is valuable to me right now, making me money. Then when someone has bid high enough, she will be valuable to me dead, when she can't cause me anymore trouble!" Father yelled into the phone, sending out more fire into the room. More screams sounded, and more screams he ignored. Then a thought dawned on him, one far more diabolical than he had before.

"Father, STOP!" Cree called again.

And Father did stop. The flames slowly died down and the temperature of the room dropped. Ninjas scrambled about trying to help their fellows in action, pulling some out of wreckage from some of Father's expensive furniture, others stomping out their compatriots, everyone was scrambling. Father sat down in his plush chair and gracefully crossed his legs. "Deal," he said simply.

Amado laughed again, "What's the catch?"

"You catch her, Mr. Gilligan can keep her," he paused to puff his pipe, "AfterI am done with her."

"I will consult with him, sir."

"No negotiations. I promise to be gentle with her." He then hung up the phone before Amado had a chance to respond. He was going to have his way, that is how things worked.

Behind Father, Cree had finally managed to pull Chad out from his grave of heavy boots. He was breathing, for that she could not have been more thankful, and his eyes were moving side to side in under his eye lids. She gave him a couple slaps, not too hard, just attempting to shock him into waking up. "Chad," she spoke softly, lips right next to his ear, "Chad, come on, wake up!" The blond boy gave a groan but did not wake up. Cree then turned to the rest of her scrambling squad and started to bark out orders, "Get the medic squad down here as soon as possible! All able bodied ninjas need to find someone and drag them into the yard for pick up!"

As her orders took form and people were being moved, Father called for her, "Cree, darling."

Through clenched teeth she responded, "Yes, Father?" she involuntarily balled her hands into fists.

"I'll need you to go get your sister for me."

"Why?"

He immediately rounded on her, causing her to cringe backwards a bit, "Do not question me. Bring her to me. That is all!"

By now a ninja had come and hauled Chad off of her lap, promising to take good care of him. She watched the small trail of blood, cloth and hair leading out of the door, thanking God that Chad only had a scratch on the side of his head. It could have been much worse. Then she looked at Father and knew, his latest request confirming, that it was going to get much worse. "Yes, Father," she bowed and hastily left, the room smelled of burning flesh and evil.

...

"The Egyptian Base was compromised up to an estimated month ago…" Nigel jumped straight into the meeting as soon as Abby and Wally set foot into the conference room. From his plank-like stiffness and flat tone, both of his operatives knew he had no time for any kind of nonsense. The CPU sat untouched at the foot of his lectern, Numbuh 4 on one side of the room and Numbuh 5 on the opposite. The head of the team continued, "Numbuh 5, it was Cree who took over the base."

Abby just chuckled, "Tell me when I'm going in."

Nigel was taken back by her abrupt willingness to go in after her own sister so fast. He found it comforting and a bit psychotic, "Easy, not sending you in just yet. But it is good that you are ready for Cree. That's one sibling we're done talking about for now…"

Wally piped up then, "Don't bother, we just saw Mushi and Tommy. Tommy was STANDING!" he paused and slumped into the couch a little more, "Good looks on telling us all that Mushi was still alive, Numbuh 1."

Both Abby and Nigel gave him a sideways glanced and sighed. That was really just the tip of the iceberg.

Numbuh 1 stepped from his lectern and stood in front of the operatives, hands pressed palm down on the circular table in which the couch formed a wide U around and spoke very clearly so that they both understood that they were not to freak out, "I'm going to be dropping a lot of information on you both, so please," he looked sternly at Wally, "Please save your reations until the end. Got it?"

They both nodded their compliance.

He took a deep breath, "Firstly, I apologize for not fully filling anyone in on the whereabouts of Mushi. It was an intensely personal decision that I now know was wrong and selfish. I thought I was protecting the team, in essence," he paused and looked over the two heads in front of him, "I understand that now."

"Tell that to Kuki." The absolute sorrow in Wally's voice almost made his insolence bearable to Nigel.

"I just did."

"What?" Wally followed Nigel's sight towards the back of the room, where in the doorway, stood Kuki, blaster raised and aimed straight at Abby's head. Abby made no moves to flee, she was not even looking at Kuki. "Kuki! What are you doing?" Wally screamed, jumping over the couch and standing in front of the blaster.

Kuki stood bug-eyed, unflinching as Wally approached her, hands out as though to calm her. Her entire body was shaking and her breathing was erratic. Even as Wally continued to speak to her, she glared into the back of Abby's skull, so focused. Nigel made a move towards Abby, halted when the girl raised a slender hand and pulled a large red cap out of her pocket.

"For fucks sake!" Nigel yelled, "Kuki put the damn thing down!"

Kuki laughed shrilly and moved a step forward. "Let me hear her say it!"

Wally moved toward her again, "Kuki," he had no plan. He was sure something bad was going to happen if he did not think of one and fast, "Baby, put the gun down. Abby did not kill Mushi."

When Kuki suddenly turned her glance on him, Wally flinched. There was a fire and hate there that he had only seen in the past when he had made fun of her Rainbow Monkies. He felt himself instinctively take a step back. She was directly in front of him in two graceful steps, blaster still pointed at Abby's head, Abby still hadn't moved, "You're so stupid Wally," Kuki spat, "I now know that Abby really had nothing to do, in the long run, with my sister's disappearance. That all came back to me, decommissioning flaw," she chuckled and shrugged, "However, when that came back to me, so did my senses so to speak."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Wally asked, honestly confused.

Kuki's only response was to sweep his legs and send him tumbling to the floor. Without another word she stepped over his body, closing the distance between her and the couch and pressed the tip of the gun onto the back of Abby's head. "Fucking say it!" she jabbed Abby's head with the gun.

Abby stood in one smooth motion, turning as she did. She adjusted her cap and made sure to pull the rim down so it sat just over her eyes, just how it used to. Nigel touched her shoulder, she brushed it off and gave a stern look that told him to back off right then and there and he did, quickly.

The stare off ended soon enough. Abby put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight to one side before stating, clearly so there was no mistaking, "I told the decommissioning operators to ensure that your cognitive development would be stunted…"

"What? Abby why?" Nigel asked from behind her. He honestly had no idea.

"Because I felt like it would slow the process of the mental blocks deterioration. And everyone prefers a stupidly happy Kuki Sanban." She said simply. Emotionless.

"Let her finish!" Kuki yelled. Her hair was messed up ten ways to Sunday, the sweat forming on her brow and upper lip was making her look feral as well. Both boys in the room knew something bad was about to happen now, there was no going back.

Abby then laughed, "And then I fucked your boyfriend!"

The breath of time that passed between that statement and the ensuing explosion gave no room for either Numbuh 1 or Numbuh 4 to stop either of them.

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